Son of Revenge - The Lightning Thief
by Ausar The Vile
Summary: (AU story) Percy Jackson had just discover that he is a demigod. The good news is, he's just a son from one of minor goddesses. The bad news? Apparently, he and a son of Poseidon are part of some life threatening prophecy. The worse news? They have to return the Master Bolt back to Zeus, who wants both of them to be eliminated.
1. Prologue

Third person POV

A 7 years old boy kneeled down in front of his father burned corpse, cried. He was near the highway, with an upside down car –or what was left as a car.

It was supposed to be the boy happiest day. His father finally agreed to take his son, Percy Jackson on a trip to San Fransisco as a gift for his good grades at school. They already planned everything, even his father promised to take him to the place where his father met his mother. The place wasn't anything special though. It was just an ordinary diner in San Fransisco.

They were on their way to their destination, when suddenly a huge lightning struck down the car. Percy managed to survived, but his father…

Percy only stood there, helplessly as he stared at his beloved father devoured by flames. The boy felt weak and he cried. Cried at the thought that he was alone.

* * *

She was supposed to be a maiden goddess, just like Artemis, Athena, and Hestia. Nemesis was _supposed_ to be a maiden goddess. That's what the Olympians want her to be. To prevent a certain prophecy from happening they said. And yet, here she was, standing far away from the car crash, observing the boy as he cried at the death of his father. She was supposed to be the Goddess of Revenge, who never feel regret toward anyone. Somehow, she actually devastated at the boy's father fate. She wants to help him, but the Ancient Laws prevent her from doing so.

It was the undeniable truth, that Percy Jackson is the first and the only Son of Nemesis.

And it was already prophesied that he, alongside with a child from one of the Big Three shall determine the fate of Olympus.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Hello everyone in PJO section, I'm a new author for this section, but not a new author for FFN (you can see my stories list). This chapter serves as a prologue and to help me know whether you guys want this to be continued or not. Before you guys complained about some essence of this story (because I know you will) let me put some info about this story:**

 **-This is an AU story.**

 **\- This is a _different_ version of Nemesis, which she was portrayed as the maiden goddess of proportion and the avenger of crime. So forget about the event in _Bibliotheke_. She remained a maiden because of some big prophecy that had been issued WAY before the Big Three take a vow.**

 **-Ethan Nakamura is not exist in this story. (sorry Ethan fans...)**

 **-Some or most characters will be OOC, including gods.**

 **-There will be an OC son of Poseidon.**

 **-Pairings? Maybe, but I will not listen/ read your pleas about wanting your favorite pairing to be happen in this story. Seriously...**

 **-Percy is smart.**

 **And that's all the information I could give you about this story.**


	2. My Best Friend is a Waterbender

**AUTHOR NOTE: Most of the story will be on Percy POV. Just like in the PJO series.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: My Best Friend is a Waterbender**

If you are reading this because you think you might be one: close this story right now and believe whatever lies your mom or dad gave to you about your birth, then try to lead a normal life.

If you are reading this because you are like me, then pack your things immediately and ask your mom or dad to send you to Camp Half-Blood in Long Island. Don't worry, he or she will understand.

When I found out that I am a half-blood, it was when I know that my life will never be the same again.

Look, being a demigod is a dangerous job. And if you are one, then let me express my condolences to you. And I'm serious about that.

If you are actually a really normal kid, who stumble upon this, thinking that this is a good fiction, good. You can continue reading this. You guys are lucky.

But don't get too cocky though.

Again, I'm serious.

* * *

My name is Perseus Jackson, but you can call me Percy if my name is too mouthful for you. I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for a troubled kids in upstate New York.

Am I a troubled kid?

No, not really.

So why I was schooled in there? Because I want to. I don't know why, but I've got this distinct feeling that I should be in there, being around the troubled kids.

I know, I'm weird.

But hey, the perk of boarding in Yancy Academy is their awesome school field trips. Our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan. Twenty eight mental case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.

You can imagine how excited I am in there. I mean, really. It's so much better than being in your class, sitting, and listen to your teacher's boring lessons.

Except, Mr. Brunner. Our Latin teacher, who was leading this trip.

Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. (And suspiciously smelled like barn?) He's actually the only teacher I met in Yancy Academy that could make studying awesome. He told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons.

I always enjoyed this kind of trip, well except my best friend, Nathan.

His name is Nathan Dorian. He's twelve years old like me. Unlike me, he already got expelled in several different schools before Yancy, while I survived my first-grade to fifth-grade in Yancy. He was diagnosed with a terrible case of ADHD and dyslexia. Poor guy, it seems that the teachers don't like him that much because he never pay attention. What do they expect from an ADHD and dyslexic kid anyway?

You see, bad things always happen to Nathan on field trips. Like at his fifth-grade school, when they went to the Saratoga battlefield, he had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. He wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course he got expelled anyway. And before that, at his fourth-grade school, when they took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, he sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and their class took an unplanned swim. I felt sorry for him, he never seems able to fit in with other students.

He told me that he hoped that he doesn't get expelled from Yancy Academy, because he felt guilty about his mother always trying to get him to a good school, even though she had not enough money, and she always work extra hard for that.

This trip, he was determined to be good and I promised him to keep him away from any dangerous objects, well the last one is a joke because now we laughed at it.

All the way into the city, we put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my other best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.

I know that Grover was an easy target, but why always him? I mean, there's other student who are as scrawny as Grover, not that I suggested her to bully them as well.

Nathan thought that maybe because Nancy had a crush on Grover. I laughed at that.

Grover was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him.

I don't believe him. I once saw him ran really fast during enchilada day in the cafeteria. Or maybe because the magic of enchilada goodness that drove him to run like that.

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew that Nathan couldn't do anything back to her because he was already in probation. The headmaster had threatened him with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. And Nancy knew that I would never do anything to get back to her because I would stay neutral to everything. It was a common knowledge that I could able to pull out the flattest poker face and when I did, the students were too afraid to bother me. They think that I could maul at them anytime with that look plastered on my face. Oh please, like I would even bother to waste my time with them.

Nathan almost stand up from his seat. "I'm going to kill her." He mumbled.

Grover tried to calm him down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter. And besides, we have Percy with us. Right Perce? Think you can put that infamous poker face of yours?"

I grinned. "Well, as long as you guys don't get scared from it as well."

Grover dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch. It landed on my jacket. I frowned, because that was my favorite purple jacket.

"That's it." Nathan started to get up, but Grover and I pulled him back to his seat.

"You're already on probation," I reminded him. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."

Looking back on it, I realized that I should decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there, because I'm not the one on probation. Unfortunately, I'm not a violent type. But I probably could plan something crafty to get back at her for throwing food at my friend.

But, we already arrived at our destination before I could think of something. Oh well, I could get back at Nancy during the trip.

* * *

Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.

I was astonished. All of this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years, or even more!

He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. We were trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around us was talking, and every time Nathan told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give him the evil eye.

Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.

Why would he quit his job because of nervous breakdown anyway? That sounds stupid.

From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured Nathan was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at him and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and he knew he was going to get after-school detention for a month. Mrs. Dodds seems to be indifferent toward me though, but she will smiles whenever I manage to answer the hardest math question that she give to me. It was easy actually, if you squint your eyes hard enough, you will realize that it was just a simple pre-algebra, written upside down.

There's one time, after she'd made Nathan erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, he told Grover he didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. Grover looked at him, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."

Meanwhile, Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art, which actually looked way too somber. I think one of the student starts crying due to how somber the funeral art is…

Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and Nathan turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"

I face palmed really hard, because it came out louder than he meant it to.

The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.

"Mr. Dorian," he said, "did you have a comment?"

His face was totally red. He said, "No, sir." Again, I couldn't blame him, his ADHD must have been acting up again.

Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"

Nathan looked at the carving, looked relief, because he actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?" I gave him a thumbs up.

"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."

"Well..." He looked thoughtful for a second. "Kronos was the king god, and-"

"God?" Mr. Brunner asked. I face palmed, again. I already tutored him about this!

"Titan." I muttered under my breath.

Fortunately, Nathan heard it. He then corrected himself. "Titan. And he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"

"Eeeww!" said one of the girls behind me. And I actually flinched because of how high pitched she sounded.

"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," He continued, "and the gods won."

Some snickers from the group. At least he managed to summarize a very long battle that could crammed up in two, three chapters into a few sentences. Maybe I could use that as an answer in the upcoming exam later.

Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"

"And why, Mr. Dorian," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted," Grover muttered. I snickered at this.

"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair. That's what you get for messing around with my friend! And I didn't even have to do anything! Thank you, Mr. Brunner. For your excellent skills at hearing the very quiet whispers.

"I don't know, sir." Nathan finally answered, shrugged.

"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. He then turned to me. "What about you, Mr. Jackson? Does this lesson matter in real life?"

I thought about his question. If I think about it, maybe this whole Greek and Roman history could be actually matter in my life one day. "Yes, sir."

Mr. Brunner looked interested at my answer. "And how so?"

"Well," I racked my brain to think of better sentence. "Maybe not directly. But everything that we learned from school can apply to the real world. Even if we don't expect it."

"Mr. Brunner smiled. "That's correct, Mr. Jackson. To rephrase that, what you learn in school can apply to the real world, even if people don't think it would. Another full credit to you, Mr. Jackson, and half credit to you, Mr. Dorian. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"

The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. If that's even a word.

Grover, Nathan, and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Dorian."

"Go ahead." Nathan told me and Grover as he turned to Mr. Brunner.

Grover and I headed out and found a seat at the fountain where _none_ of our classmates were hanging around or even bother to hang with us. The fountain is also near the minor god statues exhibit. Somehow I found all of the statues of minor gods looked much better than the statues of the actual Olympians. Maybe because it looked humbled while the Olympians statues looked regal and proud.

"Hey Grover."

"Hm? What is it, Perce?" Grover asked, while I rummaged through my backpack and pulled out a camera.

"Can you take a picture of me next to," I looked toward the rows of minor god statues and my eyes finally caught what I was looking for. "Next to that statue of Nemesis?"

Grover looked to me then to the statue. "Percy, most people usually take a picture with an Olympian statue. Why you want to be with a minor god statue?"

I frowned. "I don't like it. Their statues looked too arrogant for my taste, even if it's just a statue."

Grover chuckled. "Alright, Perce. I agree too. They looked scary."

* * *

After that, Nathan came and took a seat next to us, while Grover and I began to eat our lunches. Nothing fancy, just a regular-messy looking- sandwich for me and a few slices of apple with a juice box.

Nathan frowned when he looked at the skies. "Looks like we're in another freak storm."

Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, and wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.

Surprisingly, nobody else seemed to notice. What the heck?

Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.

"Did you get a detention?" Grover asked Nathan since he seemed upset about something.

"No," Nathan replied. "Not from Mr. Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean- I'm not a genius." He then glanced at me. "Percy is."

I stopped chewing through my apple. "Nate, stop humbling yourself. I'm not _that_ genius. Also, you're obviously his favorite student, not me. And teachers always expect their favorites to try better than before even if they have the lowest grades in class."

"Gee, thanks." Nathan muttered.

"Can I have your apple?" Grover asked me.

I gave it to him as he watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue. I looked at Nathan and I figured out that he was thinking of his mother. I remembered I once met her when Nathan invited me over to his place over Christmas. Her name is Agatha Dorian and perhaps the nicest woman I ever met. She was surprised when I told her that I have no parents and I lived with my uncle. Since that day, Mrs. Dorian treated me like her second son. Especially since I was the first friend Nathan invited over from school. He invited Grover as well, but he couldn't come. Something about his part-time job, whatever that is.

Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.

Nathan was about to unwrap his sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of us with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.

"Oops." She grinned at him with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos. I will not going to eat any Cheetos ever again after seeing that…

Nathan's face is now red – oh wait, its purple now. Oh no, his temper. I hope he still remembered what the student counselor said about managing his temper.

I was about to retort at Nancy, but suddenly we heard a roaring sound as water suddenly seems to have come out of the fountain, went around me, grab Nancy, and pulled into the fountain. I was dumbfounded. What just happened?

It wasn't that deep but Nancy was still soaked by the fountain as she screamed. "Nathan pushed me!" At this point, I don't know whether to believe that my friend, Nathan is secretly a waterbender from Avatar, or I've got a huge case of hallucination.

Mrs. Dodds materialized next to me, Nathan, and Grover. How?

I heard some of the kids whispering: "Did you see-"

"-the water-"

"-like it grabbed her-"

Okay, I think I'm going crazy, because I suddenly felt a statue of Nemesis gave me a concern look or she was glaring at Nathan. Or maybe both because she was the Goddess of Balance.

I shuddered at the thought of a cross-eyed statue.

As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on Nathan. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if he'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"

"I know," He grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."

I face palmed, for the third time. Dude, never try to guess your punishment!

Mrs. Dodds glared at him. See? Told ya.

"Come with me!" Mrs. Dodds told Nathan.

"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."

I stared at him, stunned of the fact that Grover was covering for Nathan. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death. Nathan was as stunned as I am.

She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.

"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.

"But-"

"You-will-stay-here."

Grover looked at me to back him up.

"It's okay, man," Nathan told him. "Thanks for trying."

"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at him. "Now."

Nancy Bobofit smirked.

I'm done with this. I didn't use my infamous poker face at Nancy, but instead gave her my first ever I'll-kill-you-later glare. Heh, her face immediately pale after seeing it.

* * *

I decided to follow Mrs. Dodds and Nathan. When I found them, I heard a loud scream of fear. I began to sprint towards the room where the scream originated.

I ran into the hall with the statues of the Olympians were, where Nathan came out of nowhere running toward me.

"Percy, run!" Nathan said.

"Nate, what are you-"It was then when I heard a very deep scratchy voice.

"Where is it?!" A leathery bat-like/human hybrid with eyes as black as coal and greyish body with sharp teeth and talon like claws showed up.

That's it, I'm going to find a therapist for this.

"What is that?!" I asked.

"I don't know. Mrs. Dodds took me in here and started spouting nonsense before turning into that!" Nathan responded, half frantic.

Wait, if Nathan could see _that_ , that means I'm not crazy after all! Oh wait, back to even more important matter.

"Come here, honey!" Mrs. Dodds yelled, flying at him.

Nathan had a look of fear on his face, but I only looked curious. Is she didn't see that I am here as well? Because, I feel that I am invisible toward her.

Then things got even stranger.

Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.

"What ho, Nathan! What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed each pens through the air.

Mrs. Dodds lunged to both of us now. Oh great, now she sees me.

Nathan and I dodged it while catching each pens. When we caught them, they weren't pens anymore. Nathan's was a bronze sword that I've seen Mr. Brunner used on tournament day. Mine was a double edged sword, also bronze colored.

Mrs. Dodds snarled. "Die, honeys!"

I looked at Nathan. "On my mark Nate, swing."

Nathan reluctantly nodded before Mrs. Dodds flew straight at us.

I have prepared for the worst. The sword feel balanced in my hand, I don't know why but it did.

"Now!"

At the same time we swung our swords, hit Mrs. Dodds by the shoulder and pass clean through her body as if she were made out of water. _Hisss!_

Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching us.

Nathan and I just stood in the Museum, just the two of us. Our swords are now a ball point pens.

Mr. Brunner wasn't there either.

We decided to leave the Museum.

* * *

It had started to rain.

Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw Nathan, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

Now I was confused. "Who?"

"Our _teacher_. Duh!"

I glared at her again, making her flinch. Nathan just blinked.

"Do you have any idea what she's talking about?" He asked.

I shrugged. I am as confused as he was. "Let's ask Grover about Mrs. Dodds."

When we asked Grover, he paused and asked without looking at us. "Who?"

"Not funny, man." Nathan told him. "This is serious."

Thunder boomed overhead.

I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.

I went over to him.

He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson. And tell Mr. Dorian to return my pen after he used it."

I handed Mr. Brunner his pen and went to tell Nathan to return Mr. Brunner's pen as well. He returned it immediately. And I just realized that we still had it, if Mr. Brunner didn't ask us to return it.

"Sir," I said, "Where's Mrs. Dodds?"

He stared at me blankly. "Who?"

"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."

He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"

It was at this point, I could literally feel that statue of Nemesis just gave me an apologetic looks.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And yes, Percy doesn't have ADHD and dyslexia. He's a special case demigod.**


	3. The Old Ladies of Fates

**Chapter 2: Three Old Ladies of Fates**

I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip-had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.

Believe me, that's freaky. Especially since both Nathan and I just see her now.

Every so often we would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if we could trip them up, but they would stare at us like we were psycho.

It got so real, Nathan almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed. I'm still half suspicious with them. There's no way you can just forget one person that you already know from the beginning then remember another one, who you never even met on the first place.

But we've both agreed that Grover was hiding something. Grover couldn't fool us. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. But we knew he was lying.

Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.

I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat. It appears that I'm not the only one with the same visions. Nathan got it as well.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help Nathan's mood and I almost have to avoid him because I remembered his temper. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.

I'm getting even worried with Nathan now. He started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. His grades slipped from D to F and I don't think my tutoring would help him now. He got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. He was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. Meanwhile, I tried not to get affected with Nathan's behavior. I decided to focus on my studies, since final exams is about to approach. The freak weather didn't affected me much and I managed to get more A than I intended to and occasionally B.

Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked Nathan for the millionth time why he was too lazy to study for spelling tests, he snapped. He called him an old sot. I mentally shook my head at this. What happened with my best friend? Why he suddenly act like that? Could the freak storm have something to do with it?

Nathan's hope of not being expelled is now demolished, because the headmaster sent his mom a letter the following week, making it official: He would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.

* * *

As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test Nathan studied for. He hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told him about this subject being life-and-death for him. I wasn't sure why, but at least he's willingly to study now.

The evening before our final, Nathan got so frustrated he threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across his dorm room.

I looked at the book then back to him. "Nate? What did that book ever done to you?"

He looked frustrated. "I don't think I could do this, Percy! Every time I tried to read it, words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards!"

Words riding skateboards? I wonder what it looked like.

"There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it." Nathan frowned.

"Nate, Chiron is the one with 'i'- the centaur that taught Heracles and Jason- and Charon is the one with 'a'- Hades' ferryman. Also, it's _Polydectes_ not Polydictes. Polydeuces is an alternative name for-"

Nathan looked sad now. "See, Percy? You can understand all of those, because you're not dyslexic. If I don't have this dyslexia, maybe my study will be much easier than today…"

He paced the room, like he was having ants crawling around inside his shirt.

I took a deep breath. "Alright Nate, I'll asked Mr. Brunner to help you. He could probably give you some pointers."

Nathan looked better now. "You don't have to do this, Perce."

"I insist." I said. "After all, you're my friend. Friends must to help each other."

* * *

I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.

I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Nathan, sir."

I froze. I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your friend talking about your other friend to an adult. I inched closer.

"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"

"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."

"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-"

"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."

"Sir, he saw her..."

"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."

I can't believe what I heard! So Mrs. Dodds really was exists! But, it seems that Grover is not the only one I should suspect. Mr. Brunner knows something as well. I can't believe that my favorite teacher is hiding something from me.

"What about Percy, sir?" Grover asked. I froze again. Me? What's wrong with me?

"Percy-is a mysterious one. He's quite and very calculative, but at the same time- I can't place my finger on it. He just doesn't seem like the others." Mr. Brunner responded.

"I swear that he smells like a demigod. His scent is weak, but it's there." Grover explained. "But, he doesn't appear like he's having an ADHD. He actually could read books with languages other than Greek," He paused for moment. "Sir, maybe he is a clear-sighted mortal? I mean, the scent- probably he got it from Nate, because he always hanging around with him."

Mr. Brunner looked solemn. "It could be, but I know a demigod when I see one. And Percy has an aura of a demigod. No doubt."

I think my head is bursting from this newfound information. What do they mean? Why they think that I'm a demigod? And are they talking about demigod from mythology?

"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping both Nathan and Percy alive until next fall-"

I don't want to hear this anymore. I silently creep away from the door and ran back to the dorm. When I finally reached my room, I opened my book and pretend to study until Grover came back.

"Hey," He said. "You're going to be ready for this test?"

I simply nodded. I tried to push away my suspicion toward Grover to maintain my lie. It worked. Grover didn't suspect anything.

"I saw Nate in his room earlier. He looked awful." He frowned. "Is he going to be alright?"

"Maybe he's tired. I feel bad with him though. He tried to study despite of his case of dyslexia." I explained.

Grover nodded. "Yeah, poor Nate. I hope he gets some good grades."

I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed after my fake attempt at studying.

I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.

But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about Nathan and me behind our back. They thought we were in some kind of danger.

* * *

The next afternoon, as Nathan was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, Mr. Brunner called him back inside.

I think that three-hour Latin exam is a torture to all kids with ADHD and dyslexia. I wish Mr. Brunner and the teachers could understand Nathan better.

On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.

The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.

They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. They asked Nathan as well, and his answer is the same as mine.

"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."

They went back to their conversation as if we'd never existed.

The only person we dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, we didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as we had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.

* * *

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.

Nathan saw this as well, and he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Grover?" He said. "You're okay, buddy?"

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha- What? Oh, I'm fine- Nate!"

Nathan squinted his eyes. I don't believe this. "Grover? Are you looking for the Kindly Ones?" I asked, couldn't stand with all of this secrecy that Grover had been keeping from us.

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat again. "Wha-what do you mean?"

Nathan looked at me, confused. "The Kindly Ones?"

I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. Nathan's eyes widened when I mentioned that both Grover and Mr. Brunner believed that we are in danger. He then glared toward Grover.

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"

"And what kind of danger are we getting into?" Nathan asked as well.

He winced. "Look guys... I was just worried for both of you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."

"Grover-"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."

"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar." Nathan stated, monotonously.

His ears turned pink.

From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.

The card was in fancy script, which was murder on Nate's dyslexic eyes, but I will read it for him. It said:

 _Grover Underwood_

 _Keeper_

 _Half-Blood Hill_

 _Long Island, New York_

 _(800) 009-0009_

"What's Half-"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."

Nathan looked dejected. He must have never thought that Grover could have a summer home. Well, I wasn't expecting that either. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.

"Okay," Nathan said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."

Grover nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."

"Why would I need you?"

I face palmed really, _really_ hard. Sometimes, Nathan's ADHD could be the death of him. Because it came out harsher than he meant it to.

Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look guys, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you."

I stared at him.

All year long, Nathan gotten in fights –with me trying to keep him out of trouble- keeping bullies away from him. He admitted that he'd lost sleep worrying that Grover might get beaten up next year without us. And here he was, acting like he was the one who defended us.

"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting us from?"

There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover, Nathan, and I filed outside with everybody else.

We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

Nathan is staring at the three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen. I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

Hold on, why they looked familiar? Oh right! They almost reminded me with The Sister of Fates from my books.

One of the old ladies suddenly looked up to me and smiled as she'd trying to say. _"Yes child, we are indeed the Sister of Fates."_

I suddenly felt a chill crept in my spine. Did- did they just read my mind? I slowly backed away from the fruit stand.

The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me and Nathan. Wait, if they really _are_ The Sister of Fates, which means…

I immediately shook Nathan away from his trance. "Nate! C'mon! We need to head back to the bus!"

"What? Why? The bus still broken." Nathan said, confused.

I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching. My theory was confirmed. Those three old ladies are dangerous.

"Grover! We need to get out of here!" I shook him.

"Agree!" Grover was as frantic as I am. He looked at Nathan, who still confused. "Nate, tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"

I don't know how many times I have face palmed at Nathan's answers, but this is getting ridiculous. "Not funny, Nathan. Not funny at all."

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. Grover and I catch our breath.

"We're getting on the bus," Grover told us. "Come on."

"What?" Nathan said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."

"Come on!'" We pried open the door and climbed inside, but Nathan stayed back.

Across the road, the old ladies were still watching us. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life. Finally!

The passengers cheered.

"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"

Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. Nathan looked paler than before, he looked like he might faint at any time.

Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah?"

"What are you not telling me?"

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, Nathan, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?" Nathan responded.

His expression was hard to read, but I know what he's thinking right now. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."

"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older.

He said, "You saw her snip the cord."

"Yeah. So?" But even as he said it, I knew it was a big deal.

"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."

"What last time?"

"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth." Sixth grade? That means, we're going to die at this age?

"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"

"Let me walk both of you home from the bus station. Promise me."

This seemed like a strange request to us, but we promised he could.

"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.

No answer.

"Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"

He looked at both of us mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers we'd like best on our coffin.

Suddenly, having a statue staring at me isn't such a bad idea after all…

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: On the next chapter, you will find out why I told you guys that most characters in this story will be OOC...**


	4. Grover: The Human-Goat Hybrid

**Chapter 3: Grover: The Human-Goat Hybrid**

Note to self: Never let Nathan out of your side as soon as we got to the bus terminal.

We know that Grover was freaking us out, looking at us like we were dead men, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"

Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made us promise to wait for him, and then made a beeline for the restroom. I hold on to my promise and waited near the restroom's door, while keeping an eye to our luggage.

Nathan on the other hand, got his suitcase, slipped outside while I was buying some snack, and caught the first taxi.

And it was his idea to buy some snack on the first place! Now he owes me 2 dollar!

When Grover came out from the restroom, he looked much stressed out than before when he found only me waiting for him now.

"Nate, he kind of ditches us out here…" I told him. But Grover looked terrified as if something is going to happen to Nathan if he leaves us.

He eyed at me, worriedly. "Alright, Perce. I think I owe you some explaining to do once I walk you to your home."

I remembered the business card that Grover showed to me back there. "About Half-Blood Hill?"

He nodded. "More specifically, Camp Half-Blood."

Camp Half-Blood? I don't know there's a summer camp in Long Island before. And why Grover seems to think that I should go there?

We caught the first taxi uptown.

"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver, who only nodded.

Grover and I sit next to each other in silent. I don't know why he doesn't choose to speak about this 'Camp Half-Blood' right now, but I think because he doesn't want the driver to hear it.

"So, Percy?" Grover said. "How's your uncle? Is he doing fine with his new job?"

I sighed. "I just hope his new boss is not like his old bosses before and starts firing him up for no reason…"

* * *

A word about my uncle, before you meet him.

His name is Gabe Ugliano and he is my father's long distant cousin. He looked like a tusk less walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp.

Even though his appearance is repulsive, he's the best uncle I could ever have.

When he heard that my father died, leaving me alone with no one to take care of me, he immediately volunteered himself and which of course the court immediately appointed him to be my guardian since it was what my father had written on his will.

All my uncle wants is to have open up a restaurant, but with the world being cruel to him, he has to work extra hard, from being dish washer to garbage collector, which he never last longer in one job. He once worked on double shift just to make sure I could board at Yancy Academy. I don't know what had happened, but on the last letter, my uncle told me that he had to quit his job when he found out that his boss had been cheating him up out of money.

Uncle Gabe loved telling stories about him and my father when they were just children. He always told me about how my father is kind and selfless, even though everyone treated him like he was useless, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.

My father was Barry Jackson. I always remembered him as the kindest father I ever had. His warm smiles, his shining blue eyes that always reflected wisdom in it, and his endless patience when he had to put up with me. Every time I'm feeling down, I remembered him, when he still alive, when he still could hug me when I'm scared.

My father was a high school teacher in some school in San Fransisco. My uncle told me that my father always had to put up with hundreds of students who never respect him. His fellow teachers were even worse, they always alienated him. The headmaster? He never even bothers to remember my father's name.

The only good break he ever got was meeting my mom.

My dad met her in a diner near the high school, his workplace. He said that their meeting was quite funny because she was surrounded with fortune cookies.

I guess I inherited my weirdness from my mom…

My dad didn't like to talk about her that much because it makes him sad. He has no picture of her.

You see, they weren't married. He told me that she had a very important job, to punish those who did crimes. At first, I thought he meant that my mom was a judge, but he just laughed.

He said that my mother's job was more important than judges, whatever that means.

Their relationship was a secret. Then one day, she went to the other side of the city, something about having an important job to do.

She never came back.

My father decided to move in to New York after he quit from his teacher job. It was during then, when he got the biggest surprise he ever had.

Me – more specifically, a _baby_ me. In a thread basket, covered in light indigo silk. With a note from my mother that said:

 _This is our son. Please take care of him._

 _-N_

 _P.S: I'm sorry_

The basket and the note are still stored in the attic, catching up dust. After my father died, my uncle decided to cover the basket with cloth to preserve it. I guess because he knows that those were meant a lot to me. They were the only proofs that I had about my mother.

* * *

Grover still glancing around us when we walked to my little apartment. I think he thought that there's something or someone watching on us. The apartment is still locked; maybe Uncle Gabe isn't home yet. I unlocked it and invited Grover in.

"Percy? When is your uncle's shift end?" Grover asked, glancing around the living room.

I looked at the clock in the kitchen. "Umm… five minutes to go. Why?"

He didn't answered, only kept glancing toward the door and back to me. "Just do me a favor, okay? Pack your stuff."

"What? Why? We've just arrived here!"

"Don't worry, Perce. I'll explain it later." He glanced back to the door. I sighed.

I still have my clothes filled-suitcase, but I think bringing my suitcase is quite a hassle. I have a feeling that Grover wants to bring me to this 'Camp Half-Blood' so I better repack my stuff for camping.

When I finished packing, my uncle finally arrives at home.

"Percy? Are you home?" He called.

I sling my backpack to my back and walked with Grover besides me. "Hey, Uncle Gabe."

Grover's face reflected disgust. "Eww… What is that smell?"

Uncle Gabe laughed.

Yes, my uncle smelled horrible. He reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts, no matter how many times he had taken a shower. Some of the kids in my neighborhoods nicknamed him 'Smelly Gabe' because of his scent. Since I lived with him for the last four years of my life, I already kind of used to it. I once asked him to use some cologne or something, but he just laughed at it and said that one day I will be grateful to him for his body odor. Eew...

Uncle Gabe looked at my backpack. "Percy? What's with the backpack? Are you going somewhere?"

Grover cleared up his throat to gain my uncle attention. "Mr. Ugliano, we need to discuss about Percy immediate transfer to the Camp."

My uncle's face immediately dawned into realization. Wait, my uncle already knows about Camp Half-Blood?

"Is it now already? Did Percy get attacked by a monster?" He asked.

Grover nodded. "Yes. Percy is twelve now and he already got attacked by The Kindly One."

My uncle eyed at me, worriedly. Then he looked back to Grover. "And you must be Percy's satyr protector."

What?

Grover nodded again, this time he kicked his feet –which happen to be fake- and revealed,

A pair of goat legs?!

"Yes, but Percy is not the only demigod I should protect. There's another demigod I need to fetch before sending both of them to the Camp."

Another? Then my mind clicked into realization. Nathan. Nathan is the other demigod. That's why Grover sticks around with me and Nathan, because we're both are demigods.

But the real question is, which demigod are they talking about? Are they talking about the one from mythology? Because that sounded so not real.

* * *

My uncle doesn't have a car, but he gave us enough money to use a bus to Nate's house. Once we've got there however, he wasn't there.

"Oh no! Nate's not here! Is the monster found him already?!" Grover said, frantically.

I began to think of Nathan's possible whereabouts and then I remembered that he once mentioned about going to Montauk with his mother after the school's final term is over.

"Montauk. Nate's is at Montauk." I said.

"Then let's go!" Grover said.

Again, we have to buy a one way bus ticket to Montauk. Is not that I don't like buses, but I kind of get bored riding bus. It's already three times in a day now.

I remembered the cabin that Nathan once described. The rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes.

I don't know why Nathan loved that place, but I think because his mom once said that Montauk is the place where she met his father.

When we finally arrived at Montauk, the weather began storming; the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. We barely even walk with that kind of wind that goes blowing against us. I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. I hope this freak storm doesn't affect Nathan like what happened in Yancy. I quickly pulled out my rain jacket and wore it, while running to the cabin with Grover trotted besides me.

The rental cabin is already in front of us and we sighed in relieved when we recognized the car, parked besides it.

"It's Mrs. Dorian's car! You're right, Percy! They're here!" Grover exclaimed. We ran to the cabin's porch and knocked its door, but nobody answered. We knocked again, this time a little bit louder –almost banging- but still nothing. We could hear thunderclaps from the stormy sky.

"The thunderclaps! They couldn't hear us over the sound of lightning! Grover, you have to yell while I keep pounding this door!" I shouted. Grover nodded. He desperately yells, while I keep knocking the door.

It worked! After several minutes of shouting and pounding, Mrs. Dorian finally answered the door, followed by Nathan, who looked like he just having trouble with sleeping.

"Searching all night," Grover gasped. "What were you thinking?"

Mrs. Dorian looked at Nathan in terror. I realized she's not scared at Grover looked like a human/goat hybrid, but more of why he'd come. And she also realized that I was here as well, with my backpack.

"Nathan," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"

He was frozen, looking at Grover, then to me. He must have been thinking about why Grover's waist below is more goat-like. None of us ever know that our best friend, Grover is a satyr on the first place.

"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind us! Didn't you tell her?"

"Grover! Is something chasing us?!" I yelled. "Why you didn't tell me earlier?!"

"No time!" He glanced to Nathan. "We have to leave here immediately!"

Mrs. Dorian looked at her son sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Nathan. Tell me now!"

He stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and his mom stared at him, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.

She grabbed her purse, tossed Nathan his rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"

We've both ran for the Camaro, with Nathan kept glancing at Grover's legs, still couldn't understand of why Grover has cloven hooves as his feet.

Knowing Nathan, we will need longer time to explain everything to him…

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Yeah, I kinda made Gabe sounded nice in here. Reason: there's too many fanfics that tells the story of how Percy being abused by Gabe and this is AU story, which means not every canon thing is going to happen here. I'm sorry if you guys don't like this type of change. I already warned you all about some/most characters will be OOC earlier.**


	5. We (sort of) Became Bullfighters

**Chapter 4: We (sort of) Became Bullfighters**

We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how Nathan's mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas. I guess because of her motherly instinct?

Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and tried to calm him down, while Nathan wondered if he'd gone insane, or if Grover was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants. But of course, with Grover smelled like a wet barnyard animal, it will completely convince him that our friend is indeed a satyr.

"So, you and my mom... know each other?" Nathan blurted.

I only raised my eyebrows at him. That sounded… very, _very_ wrong in so many levels.

Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you." He looked to me. "Watching both of you."

I looked at Mrs. Dorian, who still driving. Something tells me that Mrs. Dorian is not an ordinary person. A unique talent maybe?

"Watching me?"

"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."

"Urn ... what are you, exactly?"

It was my turn to speak, "Grover is a satyr."

Grover nodded. "Percy and his uncle already know me. I am a satyr."

"B- but how? Isn't satyr only existed in our mythology books? Like the one on Mr. Brunner's myths?" Nathan asked. He does bring out a good point there. Now I glanced toward Grover.

"Were those old ladies at the fruit-stand a myth, Nate? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"

"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"

"Of course."

"Then why-"

"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. Come to think of it, he's right. I just recently found out that there are monsters from our myths were hunting us right now. Why today? Why not earlier before?

"We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. Both of you started to realize who you are."

"Who I-wait a minute, what do you mean?" Nathan asked.

Demigod. Those words kept repeating again in my head. We _are_ the demigods. With all of those monsters out there- the same demigods from the myths.

But if all those in the myths are real, then… those that mean the Olympians are real?

The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.

"Nathan," his mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get both of you to safety."

"Safety from what? Who's after us?"

"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously tired with all of Nate's questions. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."

I winced at his statement.

"Grover!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Dorian. Could you drive faster, please?"

Nathan's mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences. Wait, why are we in strawberries farm?

"Where are we going?" Nathan asked.

"The summer camp I told you about." His mother's voice was tight. Oh, she already told Nate about Camp Half-Blood. "The place your father wanted me to send you."

"The place you didn't want me to go."

Mrs. Dorian must've really loved her son so much; it hurts her if she was forced to part away from him.

If only… if only my mother would care to me like that. Wherever she is right now.

"Please, dear," his mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."

The way Mrs. Dorian spoke like that pained my heart. Why my mother abandoned me? Abandoned dad for some job? Why? Why my mom couldn't be more like Mrs. Dorian?! Where was she when dad died? Where was she when I've got nightmares? Where was she when I'm feeling down? Where? Where?! WHERE?!

 _Percy…_

I froze in my seat. Did I just hear a voice? I looked around me, but all I see is Grover looked agitated and explaining about the Fates, while Nathan looked scared of the chances that he will die. Mrs. Dorian is still concentrate on the road in front of us, so the voice wasn't from her.

 _I'm sorry…_

The voice sounded feminine. Like Mrs. Dorian's, but this one is almost ethereal. I felt a lump in my throat. Could it be? Could it be the voice came from…

"Mom?"

Grover and Nathan stopped bickering about… whatever it was. "Percy? What's wrong?" Grover asked, worriedly.

"Percy? You're okay, buddy?" Nathan asked as well.

I turned to face both of my friends. "Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

Suddenly, Mrs. Dorian pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid-a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.

"What was that?" I asked.

"We're almost there," She said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."

I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive. Arrive to Camp Half-Blood.

Outside, nothing but rain and darkness-the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she's in the monstrous form with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She's like a Fury from my Greek myth books. She'd meant to kill me and Nathan.

Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the swords he had thrown to me and Nate. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling 'boom!', and our car exploded.

* * *

I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. It was a horrible experience.

I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."

"Nathan! Percy!" Mrs. Dorian shouted.

"I'm okay, mom…"

"I'm okay, ma'am…"

I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.

Lightning. We were lucky that the lightning only struck the car, if it struck to us as well…

It will be just like how my father died.

Nathan tried to move his now bruised body with Grover slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook Grover, tried to wake him from his unconsciousness. Please! Don't die on us!

Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.

"Nathan. Percy," Mrs. Dorian said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.

I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.

Wait! It is horns!

Nathan swallowed hard. "Who is-"

"Nathan, Percy," Mrs. Dorian said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."

Mrs. Dorian threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. Nathan and I tried ours. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking. I swallowed hard. It is the only exit left.

"Climb out the passenger's side!" I told Nathan.

"Nathan, Percy-you have to run. Do you see that big tree?" Mrs. Dorian told us.

Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.

"That's the property line," she said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."

"Mom, you're coming too." Nathan pleads.

Her face was pale and her eyes reflected deep sadness.

"No!" He shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me and Percy carry Grover." I raised my eyebrows at that statement. I imagined Mrs. Dorian carried Grover's head with us carried each of his legs.

"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder. And I don't really in the mood to laugh at that coincidence.

The monster kept coming toward us, making its grunting, snorting noises –like a bull. A bull? No way! I thought that monster already been slain by Theseus in the myth!

"He doesn't want us," she told us. "He wants both of you. Besides, I can't cross the property line." Why?

"But..." Nathan's voice sounded broken.

"We don't have time, Nathan. Go. Please."

I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open in the air. "Come on, Nate! You heard what your mother said! "

Nathan looked to me, then back to his mother. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."

"I told you-"

"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me and Percy with Grover."

I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car, while Nathan still pleading with his mother to come with us. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if Nate hadn't come to my aid with Mrs. Dorian followed us.

Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass. I feel like I'm in Africa with this kind of grass.

Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster and regretted it afterward. I recognized it alright. It was the monster I just thought about!

Nathan recognized it as well. "That's-"

"Pasiphae's son," his mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."

"But he's the Min-"

"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."

Alright then, I'm going to keep calling the Minotaur 'Pasiphae's son' if I want both us to stay alive. Or maybe think up some other name, like 'Beef Walker' or something. But that doesn't mean I couldn't say his name in my head.

The Minotaur hunched over our car, looking in the windows or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling.

"Food?" Grover moaned.

"Shhh," I told him. Seriously, Grover.

"Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?" Nathan said.

"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."

As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Mrs. Dorian's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.

I suddenly feel like we're in one of Michael Bay's films. Instead with vehicle themed- robots, it was with monsters.

"Nathan, Percy,"Mrs. Dorian said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way- directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"

I nodded, understanding it. Nathan still confused though. "How do you know all this?"

"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."

"Keeping me near you? But-"

Another bellow of rage, and the Minotaur started tromping uphill.

He'd smelled us.

The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter. What did you just eat, man?!

The Minotaur closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.

Mrs. Dorian must've been exhausted, but she kept ran in our pace. "Go! Separate! Remember what I said."

After handing Grover to Mrs. Dorian, Nathan and I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat. He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.

The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.

"Percy!" Nathan yelled.

"I'm okay!"

The Minotaur stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward us this time, toward Mrs. Dorian, who was setting Grover down in the grass.

We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as Nathan's mom had said and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.

The Minotaur, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing Nathan's mom, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.

"Run, boys!" she told us. "I can't go any farther. Run!"

But we just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told us to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.

"Mom!" Nathan screamed.

She caught his eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around Mrs. Dorian's neck, and she dissolved before our eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.

A memory of my father's death immediately came through my mind.

Nathan is now just like me. Alone.

Suddenly, Nathan stripped off his red jacket and waving it.

"Hey!" He screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"

Ground beef? Really?

"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward him, shaking his meaty fists.

It was a really stupid idea. Nathan tried to position himself in front of the big pine tree and waved his red jacket in front of the Minotaur, probably he'd jump out of the way at the last moment.

But it didn't happen like that.

The Minotaur charged too fast, his arms out to grab Nathan whichever way he tried to dodge.

Time slowed down.

I immediately used this moment to climb onto the Minotaur's back and tried to strangle his oversized neck.

The Minotaur staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his neck to keep myself from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils. The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.

My arms still around his neck. I couldn't strangle him just like my plan is. I don't know what possessed me to think like that, but I just did.

Suddenly, I felt like I have a surge of power came through me. I don't know how, but I realized that the more of this power goes into me, the weaker the Minotaur.

Did I just _absorb_ the Minotaur's strength?!

Since the Minotaur's movement became slower and wobbly, Nathan saw this as a chance to climb onto the monster as well, and grabbed one of his horns.

"Percy! Grab the other horn!"

I moved to the monster's shoulder and grab his other horn. We pulled both of his horns backward with all our might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then-snap!

The Minotaur screamed and flung both of us through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. Since I apparently _absorbed_ the monster's power, the landing became less painful. When I sat up, I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.

The monster charged.

And I suddenly remembered the moment when Mrs. Dodds charged us in her Fury form. "Nate! Are you ready?!"

He nodded.

I rolled to one side with Nathan's rolled to the other side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, we drove the broken horn straight into both of his side, right up under his furry rib cage.

The Minotaur roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate-not like Mrs. Dorian, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.

The monster was gone.

* * *

The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open – I guess the Minotaur's strength had gone as well. Nathan was scared and trembling with grief after seen his mother vanish. I looked over to Grover, who needing our help; I managed to haul him up and pulled Nathan with me to the valley, toward the lights of the farm house. Nathan was crying, calling for his mother, but he held on to Grover with me and we weren't going to let him go.

I feel dizzy. My legs began to weakening. The voice returns back to haunt my head.

 _I'm sorry…_

The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me. Half unconscious.

 _I love your father. I always will…_

The stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a blond haired girl, with her hair curled like princess's.

 _And I love you as well, my son…_

They both looked down at us, and the girl said, "They are the one. They must be."

"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "They are still unconscious. Bring them-"

I couldn't hear what the man was trying to say and why they suddenly gasped, but when I glanced above me, I realized why they looked surprised. I saw a hologram of indigo light, spinning and gleaming above my head.

A set of scales.

The girl looked confused and curious, but the man stared at the hologram above my head in horror.

After the hologram disappeared, I drift away from my consciousness.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!**


	6. My First Day in Camp Half-Blood

**Chapter 5: My First Day in Camp Half-Blood**

How does it feel when you woke up in a very unfamiliar room but feel safe and comfort at the same time? Well, I happen to feel that right now.

I woke up in an unfamiliar room in a medical bed that I wasn't in before. My backpack was placed in a nightstand beside me, untouched. I tried to remember the last thing I remembered -Grover being a satyr, the Minotaur, Mrs. Dorian being squeezed to death, Nathan and I taking it down, people come to our aid, and a hologram image of scales above my head.

I rose steadily from the medical bed, strangely feeling alright despite of what happened last night, and tried to walk a few steps. Huh, I guess I didn't suffer any head injuries at all. If I did, my movements would be unsteady.

I heard a voice coming out from the next room and I decided to check it. I saw Nathan lying on a bed similar to mine with a blonde haired girl feeding him some strange liquid stuff while trying to get answers from him. That's kind of rude…

I don't want to startle the girl, so I knocked the door to gain her attention. She turned to me, immediately looked surprised. The girl was about the same age as me and Nathan, and was very pretty. She had tanned skin like Nathan's, with long blonde hair that curled at the back. She had grey eyes and wore an orange shirt that said Camp Half-Blood on it along with a blue skirt that stopped just above her knees and blue sneakers.

"Hey, you shouldn't be up yet! You shouldn't be awake for another day at least, let alone fully healed." The girl said.

I don't know how to answer that. I thought they already healed me before I awake. "I guess I didn't receive more injuries than my friend." I gestured to Nathan. "Will he be alright?"

"Oh… urm… yeah. He will be fine. He just needs rest. He should be up by tomorrow," The girl said. Hmm… is it me, or is she just stammered?

"Oh, thanks for the info." I said as I extended my hand. "I'm Perseus Jackson, by the way. You can call me Percy."

The girl looked over to me as if she's studying me to find a way to tear me down. And there's the look in her eyes, like I'm some sort of a rare kind of human to her. Finally she smiled and shook my hand. "I'm Annabeth Chase. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." I responded. I took a glance around my surrounding. "So, can you tell me where exactly I am?"

"You're in Camp Half-Blood, safest place for people like –us." Annabeth said.

I nodded understandingly, which surprised her. "You already know what you are?"

"I'm mostly putting the clues back together to know that I am a demigod." I responded.

Annabeth nodded. "I better take you to Chiron and Mr. D. They will explain things to you."

"Alright then." I grabbed the backpack in the nightstand besides my medical bed and followed her out of the room.

* * *

"You're in the medic wing at the moment. You and your friends were brought in late last night. Caused a bit of a ruckus," she said

I turned and saw the Greek letterings all above the wall and on the floor, which I could read perfectly like I read English textbooks.

"I'm sorry about that. We didn't know there's Pasiphae's son chasing after us." I said.

"You know your Greek history?" Annabeth said, impressed.

"I learned it from Yancy Academy and my dad once told me stories about Greek mythology."

"Oh, you lived with your father?" Annabeth asked as if interrogating me.

"No, I lived with my uncle." I responded, deadpanned. "My father died when I was 7."

"Oh- sorry to hear that." She responded.

I just shrugged. I really don't want to talk about what happened to my dad. "It's okay. At least I have a very kind uncle to take care of me."

Annabeth smiled.

We continued around the porch-which wrapped around the farmhouse. I saw a valley marched all the way to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between the house and the water, the landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like it came directly from Greece, hundreds of years ago. An open air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena, white marble columns sparkling in the sun. There were modern stuffs too- like a volleyball-net, a sandpit where a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. A small lake with canoes glided across it. Kid in bright orange T-shirt like Annabeth's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses with wing down a wooden trail.

This place was like straight out of modern-mythology crossover books. Every aspect between modern stuff and mythology stuff seems to be perfectly balanced here.

Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. Grover was sitting on the other side of them holding a shoe box and noticed me. "Percy!"

Grover trotted over and gave me a big hug.

"Hey, Grover. Nice to see you fine as well." I responded.

"Same here!" Grover responded, "Come on! Chiron would want to see you!"

I took a good look at the other two men. The one facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He resembled a combination of a soccer dad and an alcoholic gone silver. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt. Uncle Gabe already advised me to stay away from drunken people, because they tend to be violent. Should I avoid this man as well?

The other guy was in a wheel chair and I immediately recognized him. "Mr. Brunner?"

He turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B- did I already mention how awesome he is? "Ah, Percy, you're awake." Mr. Brunner said. "I didn't expect you to regain conscious until tomorrow."

"I think because I received less injury than Nathan had." I responded.

"I see." Mr. Brunner said. "How about you join us?"

"Okay." I took a seat next to the other guy – a little farther away from him- and Annabeth joined us as Grover went back to where he was. I think they were playing some kind of poker game. And then I realized he was still carrying the shoe box.

"Hey, Grover, what's in the shoe box?" I asked.

"Oh, here," Grover said, "It's for you. Nate gets the other one after he wakes up."

Grover gave the shoe box to me. I opened it to see it was a black and white horn, just like the one that broke off the Minotaur.

"We had to get that one dug out of a tree," Grover said, "They are trophies of war."

"Thanks," I responded. I had to admit, this Minotaur's horn is quite sharp. I wonder if Uncle Gabe would allow me to display it in our living room.

"Percy, this is Mr. D, the camp director," Annabeth said.

I politely nodded to the man beside me, who looked surprised at my manner.

"Annabeth, why don't you let those from Cabin Eleven that Percy is awake?" Mr. Brunner said.

Annabeth nodded reluctantly, studied me a bit more, and left.

So," I said. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"

"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."

The centaur that trained Jason, Heracles, Achilles, and few other heroes?" I asked.

"The very same," Chiron said, "This wheelchair you normally see me in, conceals my horse's half. I normally use it when I meet new comers."

I stared at his wheelchair, amazed.

"I must say, Percy," Chiron said. "I'm glad to see you and Nathan alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to potential campers, more than one."

"House call?"

"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you two. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you and Nathan. He sensed you two were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."

I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.

"You came to Yancy just to teach us?" I asked.

Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I'm sure about Nathan, but I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your uncle; let him know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair. At first, I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt, but sensing the powerful aura inside him makes me understand why.

"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed at me suspiciously.

"No, sir. But I can learn." I responded.

He deals me some cards and told me the rules and how to bet.

"Percy." Chiron said. "How much do you remembered about the Olympians from Latin class?"

"A few, maybe." I said.

"Right, well, as you remembered, the Olympians would sometimes come to the mortal world and have kids with mortals," Chiron said.

"Demigods like: Theseus, Orion, Heracles, and all that."

"Yes, and sometimes even minor gods too as well." Chiron said. "Some could become as famous as the demigod children of the Olympians themselves, such as Achilles and Orpheus."

"And you think I am one of them?" I asked.

"Percy, this may be hard to believe, but the Olympians and the minor gods are still around. They been moving west over the past millennium from country to country to wherever their influence is strongest, and for the past century, Olympus and anything mystical involvements of what Mortals call Greek Mythology has moved to the United States or at least places near it, and to this day, Olympians still have demigods children," Chiron said.

"Okay, thank you for the explanation." I responded, slightly overwhelmed with this information. So it's true. My mother is a god.

"So then, who is my godly mother?"

Mr. D and Chiron looked at each other before facing me. They seem to be scared at something, but what?

"We saw a symbol of scales appeared above your head when you and Nathan were unconscious." Chiron said. "You know which goddess has that symbol?"

I remembered the hologram of scales again and thought back to Latin Class of each Olympian symbol of powers and sacred animals. I don't think it match to any of Twelve Olympians symbol of powers. Then, I remembered the minor god symbol of powers, including the note that my mother left in my basket when I was a baby. It turns out; she did left an initial of her name in her note.

N. It stands for…

"Nemesis." I said.

Mr. D glanced around us, like he was expecting an attack or something, and Chiron looked sad. "Goddess of Revenge, Divine Retribution, and Balance."

Now I understand why my dad said my mom's job is way more important than all judges. I realized that both Mr. D and Chiron stared at me like I suddenly turn into a time bomb. Except Grover who looked confused.

"Is something wrong?"

"You shouldn't been born." It was Mr. D, who answered. He sounded more scared than angry. "Your mother was a maiden goddess. And there's a _good_ reason for that."

I looked at them, shocked. "What? What are you talking about?"

Chiron turned to me. "During the earliest era of Olympus, a prophecy came. It was prophesied that a son, born from Nemesis shall be more powerful than all the gods that ever exist."

Mr. D stared at me. "We, the gods, were afraid of this, because it will mean that her son could destroy all of us. And we already afraid of your mother! So we plead –yeah! We're actually pleading! - to your mother for her to take a Vow for Maidenhood." He sighed. "I guess we failed. Because now you're here, sitting with us, and playing pinochle like it was in regular days."

"Ehm… you're a god?" I asked.

"Yes, but I'm here for reasons I don't think I should tell you," Mr. D said before summoning a glass of wine on the table.

"Mr. D, your restrictions," Chiron said.

"Right, right, forgot," he said before the glass disappeared and was replaced by a diet coke can.

It doesn't take too long for me to recognize him.

"You're Dionysus! God of Wine, parties, and insanity!" I responded before getting a nod from Mr. D. I think he looked impressed.

"That is correct. But I would not go around throwing names," Dionysus warned. "By the way, I believe I won this hand."

Dionysus set his cards down and shows a full house.

"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."

I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.

"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight."

Chiron turned to Grover. "Grover, how about you take Percy around the camp, before send him to Cabin Eleven."

Grover nodded and he grabbed my arm. "Come on, Perce! Let me introduce you to Camp Half-Blood!"

* * *

"Grover?" I asked, before he started the tour. "Do you think the gods wouldn't allow me to exist because of what Mr. D and Chiron said?"

"I don't know. They do look scared and I never seen Mr. D looked scared before." He responded. "But Percy, you're the nicest guy I ever met. I don't think you would try to destroy us."

I smiled at my friend. "Thanks for trusting me, Grover."

He grinned, before showing me the building around the camp.

"First, the building we were just at is known as the Big House. Basically that is HQ of camp, and where you will most likely find Chiron and Mr. D," He said.

I nodded as I observed my surroundings. We passed several campers of many ages around with either bows, swords, or other assortment weapons in their hands. Others had maps or books, while others carried around some tools. This camp is like hundred times more amazing than the regular summer camp I have seen on TV. Because this camp allowed weapons. Seriously, how is that not awesome?

Well, except the part when you get mauled by it of course.

Several of the campers stopped their activities and nudged each other. One of them even pointed toward the Minotaur's horn that I was carrying. Another said. "That's him. One of the two from last night."

It's quite intimidating for me because I was being stared by some campers that actually were older than me. There were also some satyrs that bigger than Grover, but all were wearing orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their goat halves.

The way they stare at me was just like how Annabeth did. They looked like they were trying to figure me out. Worst part is, some of them even looked at me as if I was an outcast of the whole camp.

Now I know how Nathan feels when he was an outcast at Yancy…

We walked through the strawberry fields where campers were picking bushels of berries while satyr played a tune on the reed pipes. Grover told me that they grow strawberries to sell to restaurants and mount Olympus for the Camp funds. Camp Half-Blood maybe a secret camp but it was still a summer camp.

"Grover, how were you assigned to Nathan and me?" I asked.

"Well, I wasn't exactly assign to you two specifically," Grover said. "Satyrs are sendoff too specific assigned schools across the country where we search for potential half-bloods and by the end of the year, if we think they're ready, we bring them here. But only when we find a powerful half-blood we are ordered to call Chiron."

"And you thought Nathan and I were powerful?" I asked.

"Well, Nathan I knew, but we weren't sure about you at first," Grover said. "Your scent was actually weaker than the other demigod's scents, because you are a minor demigod. But since you were always hanging around with Nathan, I was assigned to protect both of you instead."

"But now that everyone knows that I am a son from a supposedly maiden goddess-"

"Actually Perce, no one knows it yet." He said.

"Huh?"

"Only Annabeth knows it –because she was with Chiron when they discovered both of you, but Mr. D and Chiron asked her to not reveal your parentage to the other campers yet."

I looked toward the campers, who whispered to each other, I realized that they were actually discussing about which demigod I am and try to compare me with their campers.

"Is Annabeth knows about the prophecy?" I asked, quite softly because I don't want anyone to hear it. Luckily, no one did.

He shook his head. "She doesn't know, because according to Chiron, it was supposed to be Olympus most guarded secret." Grover whispered. "All she knows is that you are a Son of Nemesis. And she is actually quite curious about what you can do."

"What I can do?" I confused at this.

"Every demigod has their own unique abilities based on their godly parents. For example; Demeter's kids has the ability to manipulate plants. It goes the same with Dionysus', but mainly to grapevines. Hephaestus' kids are expert at creating weapons and armor, just like the god himself. Apollo's kids are gifted at music, arts, and expert at archery."

"That's sounds cool." I wonder what other power I inherit from my mom. So far, I had discovered that I can absorb energy from my enemy. Maybe I can expand it?

Grover showed me to the Pegasus stables, the forges, the circular arena, the archery field, the canoe lake, the open air pavilion where campers eat at assigned cabin tables, and the amphitheater where Grover said campers have camp fire where they sing and tell stories.

I looked curious at the arsenal of weaponry stacked near the woods. Grover said that it was for training against monsters. Apparently the woods were stocked with different kind of monsters.

Finally, Grover showed me the cabins. There were twelve cabins, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. Not a single cabin is the same.

Except the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.

Cabins one and two were the only one close to identical. Both looked like his-and-her mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like hologram, so that from different angles, lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.

That's probably Zeus' and Hera's cabin.

They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops –It's been so long since I last played basketball. I wonder if I still got it.

In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick. I waved my hand at the girl, who at first surprised at me, but she smiled and waved back at me.

And then she surprised me by vanished in the flames.

"Hey Grover, why there are several cabins looked empty?" I asked. "I know that Hera is a Goddess of Marriage, which means that she won't have any kids with anyone other than with her husband. And Artemis is a maiden goddess. So why Zeus' and Poseidon's cabins looked empty? I thought they are the gods with most children."

"True. That's why Cabin 2 is honorary." Grover responded. "And Cabin 8 is mostly honorary too. Artemis has maiden hunters, hand-picked girls that joined her in the hunt. When they come to visit the Camp, they stay at Cabin Eight. About the other cabins; Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades made an oath after World War II to have no more kids since the war was mostly fought between their children,"

"Oh, make sense- wait, why Hestia doesn't have a cabin? I thought she was an Olympian before Dionysus."

"She was, but when she stepped down as Olympian, she gave up her honorary cabin," Grover said. "Most forget about her, but not all. That's why instead of having a cabin built in her honor, we have a hearth." He then pointed to the fire pit.

"What about children of minor gods and goddesses?" I asked. "Since I am one of them. Do we have our own cabin as well?"

Grover shook his head. "Sorry, Perce. The minor gods and goddesses don't have their own cabins here, because we rarely come cross minor godlings like you that are worthy of coming to camp. Most are safe from monsters anyway due as their scents might not strong enough to attract any." He said. "But those that we do bring here, stays at Cabin 11 –Hermes' cabin long with any other demigod children waiting to be claimed by their Olympian parents as well as his own kids. You will stay there."

"Does Hermes allow it?"

"Hermes is the god of travelers. He takes in any demigod that needs a place to stay until they're claimed or as long as need too," Grover said.

"That's nice, I guess." I said. "But they really should build something to house us though."

Before Grover could say anything, someone is shouting at us.

"Oh, look what we got! Fresh blood!"

I turned around to see a buffed girl around thirteen or fourteen, wearing a XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket with two of her own goons. She had a sneer on her face that told me that she was a bully type and new campers were her favorite victims.

Anyone who was outside playing around stopped to look at what was going on and started whispering.

"Uh-oh—"

"—another one of Clarisse's victims—" Oh, that girl's name is Clarisse.

"—he's so doom."

I ignored some of the camper's comments behind me. "Hi, I'm Percy Jackson."

"Whatever! I'm not here to find out if it's true about you!" Clarisse said

"About what?"

"That you were one of the two who defeated the Minotaur," Clarisse said.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just that we wanted to test you out ourselves!" Clarisse said snapping her finger.

Her two buddies suddenly surrounded me. That's unfair!

"Hold up! Why we have to fight?" I asked. "Three versus one? That's cheating."

They didn't hear me; instead they all lunge to attack me at the same time! This is so unfair!

Suddenly I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. And the next thing I know, Clarisse and her goons were all pushed away by me. And I didn't even touch them!

Everyone watching was in shock. One of the younger campers said:

"He just used the Force Push against Clarisse like a Jedi!"

What the-? You know what, I don't want to know.

I ran toward where Clarisse and her goons were landed to apologize, but she just laughed and said,

"Are you kidding me? That was awesome! We could use that skill of yours for advanced dodging practice!" Clarisse piped up, which surprised the campers around us. I guess no one ever see Clarisse laughed like that before.

The other two of her goons got up wanting another round, but Clarisse waved them off telling them it was over.

"Not bad newbie. Not many new campers stand a chance or even survived on a round against us," Clarisse said. "My name Clarisse la Rue, daughter of Ares, the god of war." She extended her hand.

I gave her a smile and took her hand to shake. "Percy Jackson, still undetermined." I lied. "The god of war, huh? He must be awesome."

She looked shocked at my statement. "You are the first person that complements our father. No campers ever said some good thing about Ares before…"

Her goons nodded behind her. They seem respectful toward me now.

"Hey, war doesn't just bring chaos. War also brings revolution and peace. That's why I thought Ares must be awesome."

Clarisse smirked. "Alright then. You seem alright in our book now. Just don't disrespect us and our father or we will pummel you to the ground like a beef." And with that, she and her goons left me alone.

"Percy! That was cool!" Grover said.

"It was risky!" Someone said.

We turned to see Annabeth walking up to us. "Challenging Clarisse like that—you must have gained her respect or else she would have pulverize you!"

"Actually, she just starts a fight without asking me first."

Annabeth sighed. "At least you finished the conflict without more fight. That was thoughtful of you to say that to Clarisse."

I shrugged. "My father taught me to always respect anyone, no matter how bad they are."

Grover nodded at this. "Alright, Perce. It's time for you to see Cabin 11."

* * *

"Since you have been claimed by your godly mother –and she happens to be a minor goddess, you have to stay in Cabin Eleven." Annabeth explained. "Grover already explained that to you, right?"

I nodded.

"Good." She smiled at me. "You know, I never heard a child of Nemesis before. I wonder what kind of power you have as her demigod child."

"I just discovered two actually."

She widened her eyes. "Really? What are they?" She immediately pulled out her tiny notebook from her pocket.

"I discovered that I could temporarily absorb my enemies' power, and push anyone without touching them."

She quickly wrote that down. "Make sense. Since your mother is the Goddess of Balance, you absorb their power to even the odds in your battle. And I think what you just did earlier is telekinesis."

I shrugged while Grover just grinned at me. "Prepare yourself for Annabeth's infinite question, Percy."

I groaned. "Hey Annabeth?"

"Yeah?" She looked up from her notebook.

"I never actually know your godly parent. Which one are they?" I asked, remembering that Annabeth didn't mention her parentage on the first place.

"Cabin six."

Cabin six. If I remembered correctly, it's the gray building with white curtains and a design of an owl over the door.

"Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle. Make sense."

She smiled. "You really know your mythology. I almost wish that you are my half-brother instead."

Grover laughed. "Too bad. Percy is too normal for being a brainiac!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Even though my mother is the goddess of wisdom. I'm just like the rest of demigods too. And you as well."

"How?" I asked.

"Let's see; I bet you moved around from school to school."

Grover laughed so hard, he fall to the ground. I raised my eyebrows. "No."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I spent my first-grade to sixth-grade in Yancy Academy. Never move to another school." I shrugged. "You could ask Chiron if you don't believe me. He's my Latin teacher."

She frowned. "Diagnosed with dyslexia?"

I shook my head.

"ADHD?"

Grover is now rolling on the ground, still laughing. I smiled sadly at her. "Nope. But all of those could apply to Nathan though. He already moved around school to school since the first-grade, has dyslexia, and ADHD."

Annabeth stared at me like I just grow a second head. "How is that possible? I mean, those are normal for demigods. How come you didn't have those?" She wrote something in her notebook. "Perhaps that's the trait from Nemesis' child? No wonder Mr. D and Chiron want me to keep your parentage a secret…"

Grover had stopped laughing and I just nodded at her, sadly. "I guess it is." Actually, I still had no idea why I didn't have dyslexia and ADHD on the first place. Not that I want it as well…

"You know, Annabeth? Since I don't have dyslexia, maybe I could translate some non-Greek book for you. If you want." I said. Besides, she knows my real parentage. It is the least I can do to thank her.

Her eyes widened. "Really?! That- that would be wonderful! There are millions of books out there that are not in Greek!"

Grover grinned at me. "Well, Perce. Looks like you will spend your entire summer, reading and being buried with lots of books."

I hope I'm not going to regret this…

* * *

We finally arrived at Cabin Eleven. Unlike other buildings, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. A caduceus.

When we entered it, I was astonished of the amount of campers in there. It was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.

It was nice of Hermes for taking in unclaimed and half-blood kids of minor gods and goddesses, but this is ridiculous.

I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They were staring at me, sizing me up.

Annabeth announced. "Percy Jackson, meet Cabin Eleven."

"Determined or undetermined?" somebody asked.

Grover, Annabeth, and I looked to each other, before she responded, "Undetermined."

Everybody groaned. If I said that I am a minor goddess child, they will still groan anyway.

A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."

The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.

 _Don't trust him._

Huh?

 _He's dangerous. He's a liar._

If my mom said that this guy is dangerous, I have a feeling it's not because of his scar.

"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing. She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor for now."

"For now?" I asked, keeping with the lies.

"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I restrain myself to put my backpack and my Minotaur's horn at the tiny section, because I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.

I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets and my backpack.

 _They can't_

Mom, what are you talking about?

 _No one could steal from the Goddess of Revenge. Even Hermes knows this._

Oh well, if my mom said so. I just hope she didn't curse the campers if they eventually steal my items. Oh wait- knowing my mom, she's going to do that anyway.

"How long will I be here?" I asked.

"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."

Grover and Annabeth just smiled to me. Great! The Hermes cabin didn't suspect anything.

* * *

At night, I marched with Cabin Eleven to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods- and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.

In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.

At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.

I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.

Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.

Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table with the biggest and muscular kids of the whole camp. They looked at me and saluted like I am their comrade.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and barbecue. My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want-nonalcoholic, of course."

I leaned to the glass, and said; "Cherry Coke."

The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid.

I took a cautious sip. Perfect.

I drank a toast to my father. And to my mother, because she's kept talking in my head. Not that I'm complaining about it though, but at least it was nice to know that my mother is actually care about me.

 _I always care about you!_

I just grinned.

"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.

I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion.

"Come on," Luke told me.

As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.

Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."

Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."

I was next.

I whispered. "Nemesis." And then I scraped the biggest slice of brisket into the flames.

When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag.

It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did.

Mom, I hope you're happy with this offering.

When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.

Mr. D got up from his seat rather reluctantly. He cracked his knuckles before he stood in front of everyone so the pavilion quiet down to almost no talking to hear what he was about to say.

"Alright, listen up, because I will only say this once," he said in a bored tone. "As you all know, we had two new arrivals last night. One is with us tonight while the other is still unconscious and is healing. I'm sure you have all been wondering whether the rumor about them defeating the Minotaur was true. Well, I'm here to clarify that it is indeed true."

That caused many to begin whispering before Mr. D gave them a look that quickly shot them up.

Then Mr. D spoke again, "The one who joined us is Peter Johnson."

Chiron spoke into Mr. D's ear. "Oh right, Percy Jackson."

"Don't feel bad, Mr. D gets all our names wrong," Luke said to me.

Mr. D continued, "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.

Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my sleeping bag.

My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my dad when he was alive: his smile, the bedtime stories he would read me when I was a kid, the way he would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.

When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly. That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Hope you guys like the powers I gave to Percy! I hope...**


	7. Now With More Toilet Water!

**Chapter 6: Now With More Toilet Water!**

After I woke up and taking a quick shower, I headed to the dining pavilion. I learned that the camp scrape food for just about every meal for the gods before they continue their activities.

It turns out, there's going to be cabin inspections. I started to worry for the campers in Cabin Eleven, since it was the only cabin with overflowed campers and Hermes' kids apparently are messy. Since I just moved in last night, I didn't need to worry about my tiny space being cluttered. Besides, I always keep my stuff neatly. Unfortunately, the worse cabin gets to help wash dishes and kitchen duty. So even if I always clean up my place, I'll still get the kitchen duty like the rest of the campers in Hermes Cabin…

At least I've got some valuable lesson from it. I learned not to trust the children of Hermes. Because they will trick you to get the hardest chores, like washing dishes with lava.

After the inspections – and the lava dishes, I had my first Ancient Greek class where I learned Ancient Greek with Annabeth. She was the teacher since she's the best in teaching Ancient Greek –according from her cabin. Apparently, as a demigod- my brain was hardwired for Ancient Greek, which is why I could understand the language perfectly, like I understand English. But at the same time, Ancient Greek to me was like a little kid learning the language they speak from their parents, just because it was hardwired into my brain doesn't mean I can automatically speak the language at will without making some kind of mistake.

After my first lesson, I eventually managed to get through a few paragraph without so much of trouble. And in return for Annabeth's teaching, I read a few paragraph from an English history book for her. She listened to my narration; while constantly write notes in Ancient Greek, so she could review what I just read for her.

When I left the classroom, Grover trotted over to me. "Percy! Chiron told me to get to you! Nathan is awake!"

And before I know it, I immediately rush over to the Big House with Annabeth and Grover following me.

When I arrived, I found Nathan sitting in the same chair as I did yesterday and Chiron back in his wheelchair form. The only difference was that Nathan and Mr. D seemed to be in some kind of glaring contest. It was obvious Nathan said something that angered Mr. D.

"Nate! What did you do to anger Mr. D?!" I asked. Mr. D looked startled at me for a second before he returned to glare at Nathan.

Nathan jumped in surprise and turned to me.

"PERCY!" He said leaping out of the chair to give me a quick hug. "Thank god! You're okay? What is going on? I'm so confuse and—"

"Whoa, calm down Nate!" I responded as I patted Nathan on the shoulder. "I know it's a lot to take in, but everything that Chiron and Mr. D have said is the truth."

"You mean the gods being real and my mom being—"

"Yeah, it's all real. And I'm sorry about your mom, Nathan." I said.

He looked down as he tried to keep his tears at bay. I couldn't help but being sympathetic to him. The other as well, especially Grover since it was his job to protect us. Mr. D was the only one who looked like he didn't care, but I could spot a twinkle in the god's eye as if Mr. D knows all too well what it's like to lose a family member.

I noticed Annabeth and decided to change topic. "By the way, Nathan, this is Annabeth. She was the camper who found us and nursed you back to health. Annabeth, this is my best friend from Yancy, including Grover, Nathan Dorian."

Nathan tried not to blush but I noticed it. Blackmail material!

Annabeth glanced at the Minotaur horn in Nathan's hands –Grover must have given it to him- and then studied him as if trying to find a way to take him down.

"You drool when you sleep," She told Nathan.

I laughed so hard when I saw his face fault.

"Urm sorry," Nathan said.

"Annabeth, why don't you go find out about Nathan's bunk," Chiron said.

She nodded and left in a hurry.

"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, it's about time we talk, _again_ , about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."

Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."

I raised my eyebrows. I had no clue that Grover was in _that_ much trouble. Mr. D seemed to have purposely had Grover waited until both Nathan and I had awakened before bringing it up.

Mr. D then turned to Nate. "Cabin eleven, Nathan Dorian. And mind your manners."

He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.

"Will Grover be okay?" Nathan asked

Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit trouble. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job."

"Then why is he here?" I asked, wondering about why the God of Wine –who's apparently being forbidden to touch alcohols- being in the camp on the first place.

"He's been… ah grounded, I guess you would say, for chasing an off limit Nymph for the second time, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed back to Olympus."

Then Chiron jumped out of his wheelchair revealing his centaur form that caught Nathan by surprise.

"Come, Nathan Dorian. Let's meet the other campers," Chiron said, "Ah, Percy; you can join us if you want? I'm sure Nathan will need the support from a close friend."

I nodded and tagged along with them.

* * *

Through out the tour, Nathan was careful not to walk behind Chiron.

They passed the volleyball pit. The campers there gave Nathan the same response they gave me yesterday, but with a little less questionable looks. I guess because the rumor about us defeated the Minotaur had been confirmed last night.

Nathan looked back at the farmhouse and must have saw something, because he asked Chiron, "What's up there?"

Chiron looked up to the direction Nathan pointed and his smile faded. "Just the attic."

"Somebody lives there?"

"No," he said, with finality. "Not a single living thing."

What's that supposed to mean? I had a feeling Chiron wasn't being truthful, but he led Nathan further through the camp before I had a chance to ask.

* * *

We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while satyrs played a tune of reed pipes.

"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" Nathan asked Chiron. "I mean… he was a good protector. Really."

Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horse's back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Nathan. Perhaps bigger than reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him or her safely to Half-Blood Hill. And after the other night, Dionysus and the Council of Cloven might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."

I felt bad for Grover. Suddenly, I saw something that is… totally _unexpected._

Chocolate bunnies. Covering the roof on Cabin Four – Demeter Cabin. All the campers surrounded the cabin with the look of horror on their face. A brown haired girl was screaming on top of her lungs.

"STOLL!"

The Stoll brothers, yeah I remembered them. I met them in Hermes Cabin. They looked almost identical, like twins –but they are not twins. Travis is the older sibling, while Connor is the younger.

Remembered what Annabeth said about my power to be telekinesis, I concentrated on the chocolate bunnies on the roof and tried to move them to other place. After a few minutes, I managed to make them fly to the Stolls, who were spying in the bushes near Cabin Four.

The girl was gaping at me like a wet fish, glared to the Stolls –who immediately ran away, before she turned back to me. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"You're the new demigod that stayed in _Hermes_ Cabin last night, right?" Said the girl –she spoke the word 'Hermes' like she really hated it.

"Yes- I take it you don't like Hermes that much?" I asked.

"Not Hermes—well, not completely. More like his kids—especially the Stoll Brothers," the girl said, glaring to the said kids –who are now hiding in their cabin. "My name is Katie Gardner. Daughter of Demeter."

"Percy Jackson. Still _undetermined_." I said. "The Stoll brothers. They always prank your cabin?"

Katie sighed. "Yes. We still don't know why they kept pranking on us though."

I smiled at her. "Sorry about my cabin mates."

"It's okay, at least you're not like them or a son of Hermes—at least I hope not," Katie said.

"If it will make you feel better, my dad is not Hermes." I said. "My dad was just a regular mortal. And I am _way_ too mature for pranks."

Katie smiled in respond.

"Katie!"

Both of us turned to see one of Dionysus' sons down in the strawberry field shouting for her. He was telling her they had to take the strawberries they picked to the Big House to get ready for shipping. Since Dionysus and Demeter have powers over certain plants, I wasn't as much surprise about it.

"I have to go," Katie said, "Thanks for helping me again, and I hope to see you around."

She then headed off toward the Big House.

* * *

I headed toward Chiron and Nathan, who apparently were talking about satyrs.

"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Nathan. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."

"What about Grover?" I asked.

"Chiron told me Grover is actually twenty-eight," Nathan said.

"And that's surprising?" I asked, getting a stare from Nate. "We already know Grover was older than your average sixth grader, and since Chiron said satyrs mature half as fast as humans, that means Grover been fourteen for almost two years, right?"

"Yes," Chiron agreed, "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career…"

"That's not fair," Nathan said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"

I think missed out on a good portion of the conversation. Grover once said something about 'always the sixth grade', maybe it has something to do with another group of sixth grader before us?

Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"

Nathan looked like he wasn't about to leave the subject alone, but he seems to think of something else instead.

"Chiron," Nathan said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real…"

"Yes, child?"

"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"

Chiron's expression darkened. I stared at Nathan.

"Yes, child." He paused for a bit. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now… until we know more… I would urge you to put that out of your mind."

"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"

"Just don't overthink about it, Nate. Like Chiron said." I said. I fear that Nathan is about to… no, I hope he's not going to do something stupid like that. "Come on! We still have more of the camp to show you before we reach Cabin Eleven!"

* * *

As we got closer, Nate's eyes widened at how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, nobody would have imagined there were people here since the Native Americans.

Chiron told Nathan. "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."

"Stock with what?" Nathan asked, "Armed with what?"

"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"

"My own—?"

"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think size five will do. I'll visit the armory later. I suppose you need sword and shield too, Percy."

I nodded. I'm really excited about this Capture the Flag. Since I heard it always held in the forest and we have to bring our own weapons into it. It will be just like in movies, only without computerized special effects, but with _real_ special effects.

The tour continued. Nate got to see the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables – which Chiron didn't seems to like it very much, the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.

Chiron then directed us to the open air pavilion, "Here's the mess hall."

"What do you do when it rains?" Nathan asked.

Chiron and I looked at him as if he'd gone a little weird. "We still have to eat, don't we?"

Nathan decided to drop the subject.

Finally Chiron led us to the cabins.

At the fire pit, I thought I saw the same girl I saw yesterday during my tour, but when she looked at me, she placed her index finger to her mouth indicating that I should be quiet.

"Zeus and Hera?" Nathan guessed at the Cabin One and Two.

"Correct," Chiron said.

"Their cabins look empty."

"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."

We continued until Nathan stopped in front of the first cabin in the left, Cabin Three.

It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. Nathan peeked inside the open doorway.

"Oh I wouldn't do that!" Chiron pulled Nathan away, "Come along."

Nathan seems so reluctant when he had to leave Cabin Three. He then looked around at the other cabins, but quickly looks away when he saw Cabin Seven.

"That's Apollo's cabin," I said, "Artemis' Cabin—cabin eight there"—I pointed at the silver one—"glows just as much in the night time."

It's true. Last night, when I left the dining pavilion to Cabin Eleven, I saw Cabin Eight slowly glowed in a silver light the same as the moon comes out. Cabin Seven –on the other hand, slowly dimmed and became a regular –gold solid- cabin.

"How do—never mind," Nathan responded, "I don't want to know."

At cabin five—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fist. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the door way, which seemed to follow us.

Clarisse was in there yelling commands at her bunkmates when she zeroed in on Nathan, which I noticed.

"We haven't seen any other centaurs," Nathan observed.

"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in wilderness, or at a major sporting events."

"What do they do? Cause those sports riots?" I asked.

"Sadly yes," Chiron responded, "And among other things."

"You said your name is Chiron," Nathan said. "Are you really…"

He smiled down at Nathan. " _The_ Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Nathan, I am."

"But, shouldn't you be dead?"

I face palmed, and then I proceed to whack my friend at the back of his head.

"It's okay, Percy," Chiron said, "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish… and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."

"Doesn't it ever get boring?"

"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."

"Why depressing?"

Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again, but I understood. Chiron trained so many heroes for thousands of years, some he even raised, but at the same time Chiron saw most of them die.

"Oh, look," Chiron said, "Annabeth is waiting for us."

Annabeth was indeed in front of Cabin eleven reading a book that was written in ancient Greek.

When we reached her, she looked Nathan over critically.

"Annabeth, Percy," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you two take Nathan from here?"

"Yes, sir." We nodded.

"Cabin eleven," Chiron told Nate, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."

Inside the cabin, it was as pack as usual. At least my tiny space still neat as ever. Chiron didn't go in due to the low door. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.

"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Nathan. I'll see you at dinner."

Nathan stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at Nate, sizing him up, just like they did to me yesterday.

"Go on, Nathan," I responded.

Nathan headed in only to trip on the door way, making himself look like a total fool. There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.

I announced. "Nathan Dorian, meet cabin eleven."

"Hey Percy, is your friend here determined?" Someone asked.

"Sorry guys, undetermined. Just like me." I responded.

Everybody groaned.

Luke came to us. "Alright campers. I already told you guys that's what we're here for. Welcome, Nathan. You can have that spot next to Percy's."

"This is Luke," I said, "He'll be our cabin counselor for now."

"For now?" Nathan asked.

"Like Percy here, you're undetermined. " Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. And since Hermes- our patron is the god of travelers as well, he wouldn't mind having minor demigods and undetermined demigods to stay in his cabin."

Nathan seems to wonder whether he should put his Minotaur horn there. Couldn't blame him though. He must have remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves as well.

"How long will I be here?" Nathan asked.

"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."

"How long will that take?"

The campers all laughed.

"Come on!" Annabeth coming in so suddenly Nate jumped. "I'll show you the volleyball court"

"I've already seen it." It's true. We already saw it.

"Come on."

She grabbed Nathan's wrist and dragged him outside.

"Interesting friend you got there, Percy," Luke said.

"It's only his first day," I said, "Plus he's not as _accepting_ to stuff like this right away."

"Right," Luke said.

"Well, I better go make sure Annabeth isn't torturing Nathan too much," I responded as I headed out.

* * *

"I can't believe I thought you were the one," Annabeth mumbled under her breath when I came out.

I decided to listen in and not interrupt. Just like in the Yancy…

"What's your problem?" Nathan asked, he's getting angry now. "All I know is that Percy and I kill some bull guy—"

"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told him. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had yours and Percy's chance?"

"To get killed?"

"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"

Nathan shook his head. "Look, if the thing we fought really was _the_ Minotaur, the same one in the stories…"

"Yes."

"Then there's only one."

"Yes."

"And he died, like, gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth So…"

"Monsters don't die, Nathan. They can be killed. But they don't die."

"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."

"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually they re-form."

"You mean if Percy and I kill one with a sword—"

"The Fur… I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."

"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"

"She must have overheard you talking in your sleep." I said, causing the two of them blush. More blackmail material! "You _always_ talk in your sleep, Nate."

Nathan tried to hide his embarrassment before he turned to Annabeth. "You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"

Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her. "You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."

"Look, is there anything we _can_ say without it thundering," Nathan whinnied. "Why do we have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together. There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."

He pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale.

I speak up. "Nate, the cabin arrangements has nothing to do with how pack some might be. It depends on who your parent is, or in your case: your dad."

"He's dead, you know that," Nathan responded.

Annabeth sighed. Clearly she heard these conversations before. "Your father's not dead, Nathan."

"How can you say that? You know him?"

"No, of course not."

"Then how can you say—"

"Because I know you. You and Percy wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."

"I'm standing right here," I responded, while I crossed my arms.

"You don't know anything about me," Nate argued. Please Nathan, stop arguing with the girl who basically smarter than ten of our teachers in Yancy.

"No?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."

"How—"

"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."

Nathan looked embarrassed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in a classroom. That's your battle reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Nathan, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."

"You sound like… you went through the same thing?"

"Most of the kids here did," Annabeth responded.

Nathan turned to me. "Wait, what about Percy? He doesn't have ADHD and dyslexia. How come he could be like us?"

Annabeth looked at me. "He's… eh, a special case."

Nathan looked at me, incredulously. "Special case?"

"It's a long story." I responded.

Nathan still stared at me, but he decided to drop the subject. For now.

Annabeth decided to change the topic. "If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."

"Ambrosia and Nectar."

"The food and drinks they were giving us to make us feel better," I responded.

"Yes. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."

Nathan was about to ask more about it when someone yelled. "Well. Another newbie!"

We looked over. Clarisse was sauntering toward us. This time she had three other girls behind her, all were obviously Clarisse's half-siblings, at least to me.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure, Miss Princess," Clarisse said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

 _"Erre es korakas!"_ Annabeth said, which I understood as 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance."

Clarisse rolled her eyes before turning to Nate while ignoring me. "Who's this little runt?"

"Nathan Dorian," I said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."

Nathan blinked. "Like… the war god?"

Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"

"No," Nathan said. "It explains the bad smell."

I face palmed. Damn it, Nate!

Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Nellie."

"Nathan."

"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."

"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.

"Stay out of it, wise girl."

Annabeth looked in pain, while I just grumbled under my breath about Nathan needing to stop blurt some stuff up.

Nate handed me his Minotaur horn and got ready to fight. Sadly, Nathan stood no chance against four kids of Ares, as Clarisse had him by the neck and was dragging him toward a cinder-block building that was the bathrooms.

"Percy, aren't you going to do anything?" Annabeth asked.

I sighed. "Nathan needs to learn how to stop while he's ahead. And I'm just tired from constantly trying to pull him away from any troubles."

Annabeth just gave me a look. "Come on, we better go after Nathan and Clarisse."

We headed up to the bathroom only to arrive in time for the water to explode out of the bathroom with a large _BOOM!_

Fortunately, we were just far enough to not get hit by sewage water. Unfortunately at the time, Clarisse and her goons weren't so lucky as they ran out of the bathroom, soaking wet.

We came in once the water works ended to find Nathan sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room, completely dry? He stood up, his legs shaky.

Annabeth asked, "What happened here?"

"I don't know." Nate responded.

"You're dead, new boy! You are totally dead!" We heard Clarisse yelled.

"You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth!" Nathan yelled.

I face palmed. "Shut up Nate, before you make more enemies!"

Meanwhile, Annabeth stared at both of us.

"What?" Nathan demanded. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Thank you for enjoying the chapter.**


	8. Nathan Wants to Go Home

**Chapter 7: Nathan Wants to Go Home**

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever Nathan went, campers pointed at him and murmured something about toilet water.

Annabeth decided to show him a few more places: the metal shop, the arts- and-crafts room, the climbing wall -which actually consist of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if campers didn't get to the top fast enough.

I didn't know why I had to stick around though, but maybe because I want to make sure Nathan doesn't cause any more trouble. Also, to make sure he doesn't drive Annabeth up the wall.

Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," Annabeth said. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

Nathan didn't seem to want to talk. He was probably still trying to make sense of what happened at the bathroom. I know, because I try to make sense too.

"He needs to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.

"Who?" Nate asked.

"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

"Alright then." I responded, while I raised my eyebrows.

Meanwhile, Nathan stared into the lake, probably wishing somebody would give him a straight answer for once.

I sighed. I am his best friend, and yet I lied to him. I mean, he still doesn't know that I already got claimed by my mother after we reached the camp.

Then I saw Nathan waved at two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, which is about twenty feet below. Annabeth saw this and she frowned.

"Don't courage them," She warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

"Naiads," Nathan repeated. "That's it. I want to go home now."

Annabeth frowned again. "Don't you get it, Nathan? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."

"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

"Half-human and half-what?"

"Half-god." I responded.

Nathan eyed at me, weirdly. Annabeth nodded at my statement.

"Your father isn't dead, Nathan."

Nathan still eyed at me. "Like Percy's dad?"

"Actually, mine is my mom." I answered. "My dad was mortal."

Annabeth nodded. "Yes, Percy's mom is a goddess. And your father is a god."

"That's… crazy." He responded.

"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"

Actually, my dad was my mom's first love though. Apparently.

"But those are just-" Nathan wants to say something, but he stopped it. He then said another thing. "But if all the kids here are half-gods-"

"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."

"Then who's your dad?"

Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling he'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.

"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

"He's human."

"There are goddesses that have demigod children," I responded. "My mom is one of them."

Nathan nodded quickly as he finally seeing his mistake. "So, who is your mom?" he asked Annabeth.

"Cabin six."

"Meaning?"

"Athena," I responded. "Goddess of wisdom and battle."

Nathan nodded. "What about my dad?"

"Undetermined." Annabeth said. "Just like Percy."

She seems like she wants this secret about me to be over soon. So do I.

"Except my mother. She knew." Nathan murmured.

"Maybe not, Nathan. Gods don't always reveal their identities."

"It's true, but Mrs. Dorian isn't your out of the ordinary human." I said. "She saw Pasiphae's son last night after all."

Annabeth frowned. "She did? How is- you know what, never mind. Right now the only way we can be sure is if Nathan's dad send him a sign, only it would be one symbol claiming Nathan as his own son. That's the only way we know for sure, if it happens."

Thinking about Mrs. Dorian, I wondered if my dad and my uncle could see the monster as well. Uncle Gabe didn't seem so surprised at Grover's satyr form back then.

"You mean sometimes it doesn't?" Nathan asked.

Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always… well sometimes they don't care about us. They ignored us."

Except my mom. Because I am her _only_ child. So far.

Nathan looked back at the Cabin Eleven -he must have thought back to the sullen and depressed kids in there. And then he looked to me and I couldn't help but feel guilty. He still thinks that my mother doesn't claim me yet.

I hate this secret. I hate that I have to hide my parentage away from the other demigods, only because my mom was supposed-and _expected_ to be a maiden goddess.

"So I'm stuck here," He said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"

"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble-about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."

"So monsters can't get in here?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."

"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"

"Practice fights. Practical jokes."

"I can think of two from Hermes' cabin who might do that." I responded.

"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."

"So… you're a year-rounder?" Nathan asked.

She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."

"Think before you continue, Nathan, or you might lose a possible friend," I warned. So far, only Annabeth I could think of a better friend for Nathan. She's mature enough to put up with his behavior.

Nathan nodded and decided to change topics. "So… I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"

"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless…"

"Unless?" I asked.

"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time ..."

Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.

"Back in the sick room," He said, "when you were feeding me that stuff-"

"Ambrosia."

"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."

Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?"

"Wait, you were awake before me?" I asked.

"Only for brief moments." He responded.

"Do you _know_ something?" Annabeth asked again.

"Well… no." Nathan said, and then looked to me. "But Percy knows."

I sighed. "Back at Yancy, I overheard Grover and Chiron talked about summer solstice." I responded. "He said something like we didn't have much time –well mostly Nate-"

"What did that mean?" He asked.

She clenched her fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so _normal_."

"You've been to Olympus?"

"Some of us year-rounders—Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."

"But… how did you get there?" Nathan asked.

"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at him like she was sure he must know this already. "You _are_ a New Yorker, right?"

"Oh, sure." Nathan responded having a hard time believing it.

I held back a laughter at the thought that we been in New York for our whole life and neither of us knew that the entrance of Olympus was there.

"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping… I mean—Athena can get along with just about anybody, except Ares. And of course, she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought maybe the three of us could work together—maybe one of you know something."

Nathan shook his head as I responded. "Sorry. We were at each of our places during all winter break, and when we weren't- we were at Yancy.

Annabeth sighed. "I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm _not_ too young. If they would just tell me the problem…"

We smell barbecue smoke coming from nearby. Must be almost dinner time.

"I'll catch you later." Annabeth said.

"Of course." I responded. "Come on, Nathan."

We left Annabeth on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.

* * *

Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. Nathan went over to his spot and sat down while I talked with one of the camper, who happened to be a minor demigod too. She said that she was a daughter of Hecate and she was interested with my telekinesis power that I showed during my fight with Clarisse. She thought that I might be Hecate's as well. I just shrugged and told her that maybe I am.

 _Wait, WHAT?_

Don't worry mom. I'm still your son! Please don't smite me!

Luke came over to Nathan and handed him a CAMP HALF-BLOOD orange T-shirt, leather necklace, and even a sleeping bag and toiletries from the camp store.

"Found you a sleeping bag." He said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."

"Thanks," Nathan said.

"No prob." Luke sat next to him, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"

"At first, but Percy helped." Nathan responded.

After I prayed to my mom, promised her that I will bring her a great Mother's Day gift for her –apparently she wouldn't mind anything as long as it's in the color of balance, which is any shade of purple- I walked to both Luke and Nathan.

"So your dad is Hermes?" Nathan asked.

Luke pulled out a switchblade out of his back pocket and used it to scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."

"The winged-foot messenger guy."

"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers. Merchants. Thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."

I figured Luke didn't mean to call Nate a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind.

"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.

"Once."

We waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell us, he'd tell us. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.

Luke looked up to Nate and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Nathan. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."

We sat in silence for a bit before Nathan broke it.

"Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth… twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"

Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until... somebody special came to the camp."

"Somebody special?" Nathan responded.

"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."

The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance.

The whole cabin, about twenty one campers, filed into the common yards. They lined up in order of seniority, so of course Nathan and I were in the back row. Campers came from the other cabins with an exception of the four empty cabins, including Artemis which had started to glow silver. Just like what I saw yesterday.

At the pavilion, torches blazed as campers took their seats at their respected table. Too bad for Nate, his butt was half way hanging off the end -like what happened to me yesterday- while I've finally got a seat between Luke and a camper –apparently a son of Hypnos, because he fall asleep as soon as he taken a seat.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised his glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of the usual food. Luke told Nathan about his gauntlet and Nate requested blue cherry coke.

Nathan filled his plates with smoked briskets and was about to start eating when everyone got up.

"Come on, Nate," I said. "Time to make offerings to the gods."

"Okay…" Nathan responded as he got up.

As we waited for our turns, I told Nathan how each camper making a scraping of the biggest or juiciest portions to their Olympian parent.

I went first and made a scraping, whispering –so no one could hear it. "Nemesis."

Then it was Nathan's turn. He scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames and received the pleasant smell of the food offered.

When we had returned to our seats and finished eating our meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for everybody attention.

I guessed that Mr. D decided to wait until _after_ the feast to make his announcements, as the wine god sighed. "Yes, I suppose I have to do this again. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of ugly cheering rose from Ares table.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that our second newcomer has finally woken today. Neal Delbert."

Chiron murmured something.

"Er, Nathan Dorian." Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now go to your stupid little campfire."

Everybody cheered as we stood up and headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-a-long. I noticed that my best friend was having a fun time with campers. I smiled for him. At least Nathan was starting to feel at home too.

That night, we headed to each of our spot in Cabin Eleven to get some sleep.

I wish I'd known how briefly we would get to enjoy our new home.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Honestly, I am completely overwhelmed with the amount of followers for this story. 32 followers in just few days? Must be a new record for me. Meanwhile, I'd like to address to those who reviewed about pairings.**

 **Please stop.**

 **That is the most annoying thing I ever read from reviews. When readers want to know what pairing -and suggesting pairing- for the story, that actually put a lot of stress for me. Please, I know what you guys want but let me write my story in peace. Pairings will come later, but I wouldn't expect you guys would like the pairing I had chosen.**

 **Also, did I already told you guys -on the first chapter- that I will not receive any pairing suggestion? Did you guys forget about it?**

 **Sorry if this came out harsher that I intended to.**


	9. Capture The Flag Gone Wrong

**CHAPTER 8: Capture The Flag Gone Wrong**

Before I begin my training with Nathan –with the help from Annabeth and Luke-, a satyr told me to come immediately to the Big House. Apparently, Mr. D has some news from Olympus regarding me.

"Morning, Mr. D. Morning, Chiron." I greeted them as soon as I entered the Big House. "You want to see me-"I stopped immediately after I saw Mr. D trying to hide under the pool table. "Mr. D?"

The God of Wine's head popped out from the table. "Chiron? _She's_ not with Peter- I mean, Percy right now?"

"Fortunately, no. Mr. D." Chiron said, walked right beside me. He turned to me. "Morning, Percy. I assume you're here for the news?"

I nodded, although I have to hide my grin when I see Mr. D tried to get out from the pool table, but accidentally hit his head in the process.

For some reason, Mr. D looked more scared to me than the first time I met him. And more agitated too, I mean he eyed everything around us as soon as he's out from the table.

"Peter- Percy, did you receive a sign from your mother, or did she contact you?" Mr. D asked. "Don't worry; I'm not going to punish you or anything!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Well, my mom had been talking to me in my mind-"

"Did she mention anything about destroy or annihilate or anything?"

"No? She's only being care to me, that's all. Nothing destructive." I said. "Is something wrong Mr. D?"

Mr. D sighed. "Let's just say, this is all Zeus' fault."

Thunder boomed through the sky.

"Seriously, father! You admit it yourself that it was your fault yesterday!" Mr. D shouted to the sky.

I looked at Mr. D, slightly worried. "Mr. D?"

It was Chiron who answered. "Your mother visited The Council yesterday. And she was not happy."

Mr. D tried to sip his Diet Coke, but ended up spill it on the floor. "During our daily meeting in The Council, the King of The Gods himself petitioned to annihilate you after the day you've got claimed by Nemesis."

"What!"

"The entire Council disagreed about this of course –lucky you- but Zeus insisted that if we allow you to live, you will destroy Olympus." Mr. D looked to me, trembling. "But… you're not going to do that, right?"

"Of course not! Is there any reason?"

Chiron looked relieved while Mr. D sighed again. "It was then, when your mother came. With intimidating aura and all that. Unfortunately, she heard Zeus' petition and she-"Mr. D choked. "She swore upon the River of Styx that if we- The Council harm you and even kill you, she will destroy us all!"

I think my jaw fell off to the floor, while Chiron looked at me, sympathetically.

Oh well, at least I know that I'm not going to be smite by the gods anytime soon.

* * *

After leaving the Big House –with Mr. D rolling on the floor, sucking his thumb- I headed to the training yard to meet Nathan and Annabeth.

"Where have you been?" Annabeth asked.

I shrugged. "Just came from the Big House. Something about Mr. D shouted at me…"

Nathan just stared at me. "Okay then…"

For the next few days, I managed to balance my schedule so I could train with Nathan in hopes to help him get claim.

We quickly learned that every day had a different schedule with only a few lessons being the same.

Every morning after breakfast, we had inspections –and you guessed it- Hermes Cabin been getting dead last. Hermes kids-mostly the Stoll brothers- tricked Nathan into doing the hardest work after breakfast during our kitchen duties. He learned not to trust the Stoll Brothers when it comes to chores.

Then, we have Ancient Greek with Annabeth, where we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense. Nathan discovered Annabeth was right about his dyslexia when he hasn't had a hard time reading ancient Greek. After a couple of mornings, Nate could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache. After our class, I read two to three paragraphs from an English Philosophy book for Annabeth.

The rest of the week rotates between chores and outdoor activities, mostly to try and figure out who was Nate's father.

First, we had Lunch preparations before we had Archery class with Chiron. I found out that I was pretty decent with bows and arrows and also, I discovered that I could 'borrow' anyone talents.

It happened after I accidentally bumped into an Apollo kid and I felt my head was filled with knowledge immediately. Few minutes later, when I did archery, I've became as expert as Apollo kids. It was pretty fun, until I found out the Apollo kid I bumped into had turned worse at archery –which makes all campers worried. I felt guilty at this and I decided to 'return' his skill back. I don't know how that work or how to describe it, but I conjure an indigo aura from my mind and transfer it to the demigod.

I know, it sounds confusing. But at least I learned more about my demigod powers.

Nathan was clearly not a child of Apollo when he shot an arrow at a dryad instead of his target, or when an arrow got snagged in Chiron's tail.

After Archery and lunch, it was weapon making with the head counselor of Hephaestus Cabin, Charles Beckendorf, a huge African-American guy with a permanent scowl, muscles like a baseball player, and hands like catcher's mitts which were calloused.

Again, my skill in weapon making turns out to be decent. Nathan on the other hand, clearly wasn't a child of Hephaestus when he accidentally welded two swords together.

After that, we had a foot race with dryads. I was at the top, while Nate found himself slower than a dryad, much to his embarrassment. Then we had free time before dinner.

On Tuesday, we had store checks before Javelin throwing class. Nathan was better at it than with a bow and arrow, but it still didn't help him finding out who his father was.

Then we had canoe races. Nathan actually succeeded in that. It seemed the water was willed to help him. I'm still decent though, but I could manage to balance myself in the canoe much longer than the other campers.

We finished the day off with unarmed combat before dinner, which I actually excelled at it but Nathan struggled with it.

Wednesday though had to be the worse day, when Nathan had wrestling after he and I had to learn the different ways to kill a monster. Mostly because in both lessons, Clarisse led the lessons. And both lessons, Nate got the pummeling of his life.

"Think of it this way," I told him. "At least you know Ares isn't your dad and Clarisse isn't your half-sister."

"Shut up!" Nathan groaned.

During the first three days, I noticed the senior campers and counselors were watching both Nathan and I, trying to decide who our godly parent was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. I am pretty much decent in every skill, which brings even more questions to the campers-except Annabeth- about who was my mother. Nathan wasn't as strong as Ares kids, or as good at archery as Apollo kids, or had Hephaestus' skills with metalwork, and I been around Nate long enough to know that he didn't have any gift with vine plants. Luke told Nate that he might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Luke also told me that I might be a child of Athena, due to how intelligent I am, but Annabeth rejected this theory as she told him that I don't have Athena's skill at strategy-planning. I had a feeling Luke was trying to make Nate and I feel better since he didn't know what to make of both of us either.

I told Annabeth about my newly discovered power and she told me that it must be another trait of Goddess of Balance just like my energy-absorbing power.

Despite of our days, Nathan and I liked the camp. We gotten use to the life style of camp, but I would sometimes catch Nathan thinking about something else, most likely about his mother, or bitterly about his dad who had yet claimed him.

* * *

Thursday proven to be more resourceful over all when we had our first sword fighting lessons. Everyone from Cabin Eleven gathered around the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.

We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I did better than I expected since my battle with the Fury, and I _never_ used a sword before. Well, until I slashed the Kindly One with it.

Unfortunately, I felt that the training swords didn't feel right in my hand- as if it wasn't long enough, or had enough power. Whatever it was, there was something off. And I wasn't the only one have trouble with my sword. Nate seemed to be struggling with his. Luke had a hard time finding a sword for him.

We moved on to dueling pairs. Luke announced to be Nathan's partner, while I was paired up with a big Hispanic teenager with black hair and brown eyes: Chris Rodriguez. When I first met Chris, I thought he was another Hermes' kid, because he had the sharp facial features just like the rest of the Hermes' kid. Turns out, the guy wasn't even claimed.

By the time Luke called a break, everyone was soaked in sweat. We immediately swarmed the drink cooler after it was served. I saw Nate poured water on himself after watching Luke do it, which seemed to energize Nathan. Huh, another power over water Nate seems to have.

"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Nathan doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."

I couldn't help but feel bad for Nathan when Luke said that, but I decided to watch the demo, see what I could learn from it. Luke told everybody that he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.

"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Nathan, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."

He demonstrated the move on Nate in slow motion. Sure enough the sword clattered out of his hand.

"Now in real time," he said, after Nathan retrieved his sword. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Nathan?"

Nate nodded, and Luke came after him. Somehow, Nathan kept Luke from getting a shot at the hilt of his sword and eventually was able to counter all the attacks. After Luke deflected Nate's attack. He started pushing him.

I noticed that Nathan started having trouble with his sword again. Nate wouldn't stand a chance soon.

Nathan must have known it too as he tried the disarming technique. His blade hit the case of Luke's and he twisted, putting his whole weight into a downward thrust.

Clang!

Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of Nate's blade was an inch from his undefended chest. The other campers were silent.

"Um, sorry." Nathan lowered his sword.

For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.

"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Nathan, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"

Nathan reluctantly agreed, but this time there was no contest. The moment their swords connected, Luke hit Nate's hilt and send his weapon skidding across the floor.

"Beginner's luck." Somebody said which makes me glare. There's no such thing as beginner's luck!

Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised Nathan with an entirely new interest. "Maybe." He said. "But I wonder what Nathan could do with a balanced sword…"

After a brief silence, they had pair off so everyone could try the moves themselves.

However, the lesson ended quickly as everyone turned to me, currently in a position of the final move on Chris.

I had blocked Chris' sword, twisted his body around for a swing, forcing him to dodge giving me the opening to dive in with my blade at Chris' hilt for a disarming move. The scary part was that during the move, I had no clue what exactly happened. I just saw the move happened and something in my brain clicked as I was able to process the best way to counter.

"Looks like we have two future prodigies with the sword." Luke said. "Good job, Percy."

"Uh, thanks?" I responded.

* * *

Friday afternoon, instead of going to the rock climbing with Nathan and Grover, Luke told me that Annabeth wants to see me for a meeting. Apparently, Athena allied with Apollo and Hermes-two of the biggest cabins at camp for the game Capture the Flag. I wanted to try out the rock climbing wall with the lava, but I decided that I had plenty of opportunities.

Annabeth held HQ in the place where she taught ancient Greek. Inside, children of Athena were coming up with a battle strategy. Only ones there wasn't from Athena besides Luke, was Lee Fletcher: son of Apollo and head of counselor of Cabin Seven.

Also the same Apollo kid that I accidentally 'borrowed' his archery skill with. Oops.

He was this archer kid with a deep natural sun tan, and hair that was so blonde, it matches the color of the sun. Lee and Annabeth were at their own section of the room.

"I brought Percy," Luke said.

"Thanks Luke," Annabeth said. "Sorry to tear you away from helping Nathan get claim, Percy."

"No problem." I responded, "So, what do you have planned?"

"Well, we already got an idea for the basic attack force," Annabeth said. "But I suddenly got an idea that involving with you."

"What can you tell me?" I asked.

"Well, we know Ares has allied with Hephaestus, Dionysus, Aphrodite and Demeter," Annabeth said, "The good news is Aphrodite's kids rarely play unless the Hunters of Artemis comes to visit. Demeter and Dionysus has the home field advantage since we're playing in the woods, but Demeter isn't aggressive and only Dionysus' twin sons plays the game. Our biggest obstacle is Hephaestus and Ares cabin. With the two combine, they got brains and muscles."

"Not to mention, Clarisse would want nothing more than to humiliate Nathan." I responded.

"Right, we can use our sheer numbers to our side and some will guard the flag." Annabeth explained. "And that's where you coming."

I suddenly realized what Annabeth trying to say, luckily both Luke and Lee were currently discussing about something else, and so they won't hear our conversation. "You want me to use my power?"

"Percy, as a son of Nemesis, you could turn the balance in this game into our favor. You could just stand next to me, absorbing as much power from the enemy's side, rendering them weak as we immobilize them." Annabeth whispered.

I thought of this plan. It sounds good, but risky as well. "But I still don't know the extent of my powers yet. What would happen if I couldn't control and accidentally absorb our team's strength instead? Or I could explode due to the how much power I could absorb?"

Annabeth frowned. "Mmh, maybe you're right..."

"It's okay, Annabeth. Your plan still sounds good though, maybe I could just contact my mother; see if she could explain to me more about my powers." I said.

"You can contact Nemesis?" She asked, quite shocked.

I nodded. "Only through my mind apparently. I just hope my mom isn't busy trying to delivers revenge against the bad guys." Or threatening Olympus with death if I suddenly get a splinter in the woods.

 _No, I'm free for tonight. That's… what my schedule said. Otherwise, I will punch Themis for screwing up my schedule._

I smiled. "We're lucky. My mom could help us."

Annabeth looked happy at what I said. "Great! Alright Percy, here's where your position on the team-"She began to showing me where I should stand and what I should do.

* * *

After the meeting, I met up with Grover and Nathan, who were currently resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall.

"Hey, Grover. How did your talk with Mr. D go?" Nathan asked. And I could see how Grover's face turned a sickly shade of yellow. I shook my head at Nate.

"Fine," he said. "Just great."

"So, your career's still on track?"

Grover glanced at us nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher license?"

I shook my head." I just hear it now."

"He didn't tell me exactly," Nathan said. "He just said you had big plans, you know… and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"

Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeds with you two yet, so our fates were still tied together. If either of you got a quest and I went along to protect one of you or both of you, and all of us came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."

"Well, that's not so bad," I responded. "Right?"

" _Blaa-ha-ha!_ He might as well have transferred me to stable cleaning duty. The chances of either of you getting a quest… and even if you did, why would either of you want _me_ along?"

"Of course, we'd want you along," Nathan said.

I just simply nodded.

Grover stared glumly at the water where naiads were basket weaving under water. "Basket-weaving… Must be nice to have a useful skill."

We decided it might be best to change topics. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Nathan asked about the four empty cabins and found that Hades didn't have one since he didn't have a throne.

"Why are Zeus' and Poseidon's empty? They had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths," Nathan asked, "Why are their cabins empty?"

Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River of Styx."

Thunder boomed.

Nathan said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."

Grover nodded.

"Why not just make it where Hades can't have any mortal kids?" I asked.

Grover hesitated, "Maybe it was the only way for Hades to agree."

Something tells me that Grover was keeping some more information.

"And the brothers kept their word-"Nathan said. "No kids?"

Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia… well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."

"But that's not fair!" I said. "It wasn't her fault!"

Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."

He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where Nathan and I had fought the Minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told the satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monster. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of the hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."

There was a brief silence.

"Grover," Nate broke the silence, "have heroes really gone on quest to the Underworld?"

"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus, Heracles, Houdini."

"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"

"No. Never. Orpheus came close… Nate, you're not seriously thinking-"

"No," He said. "I was just wondering."

I shot Nathan a warning look. I could tell Nate was lying, but I hoped he wasn't dumb enough to try the impossible.

"So…" Nathan said, "a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"

"Not always. Satyrs go undercover to a lot of schools and try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes," I said. "Right Grover?"

Grover nodded. "And if we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."

"And you found Percy and me. Chiron said you thought I might be special."

Grover looked as if Nathan just had led him into a trap. "I didn't… Oh listen, don't think of that-it probably as just a mix up because you were around Percy. If you _were_ \- you know- you'd never _ever_ be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Hypnos, the god of sleep. Don't worry, okay?"

* * *

That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.

At last, it was time for capture the flag.

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

"Those are the flags?" Nathan yelled over the noise.

"Yeah!" Luke replied.

"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"

"Not always," he said. "But often."

"So, if another captain captures one, what do we do—repaint the flag?"

He grinned. "You'll see. First, we have to get one."

I just kept myself concentrate for the upcoming game. After my mom briefly explained to me in my mind about the extent of my powers and how to control them, I feel more confident and I could probably help my team to win this.

After that thought however, my mom proceed to lecture me for being too cocky…

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I shall serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, ox-hide shields coated with metal.

Nathan was struggling with his new armor which was a standard Greek armor with a shield the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. His helmet was the same as everyone else's on Athena's side that was wearing one with a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.

Even though my armor is just like Nate's, mine is actually _perfectly_ fit in my size. Which I found it to be quite weird.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.

Meanwhile, Nathan was trying to get the plan out of Annabeth, much to her annoyance. Finally, Nathan retreated back to Luke while I took the chance to approach Annabeth.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Clarisse might go after Nathan to get him back for the bathroom incident," I responded. "It could run in your favor in the game, but if he ended up outnumbered, I'm going to help him."

Annabeth nodded.

"By the way, what kind of advice did you give to Nathan?" I asked.

"Watch out for Clarisse's spear," She replied.

"Why?"

"Because it sends electric sparks," She said.

"Did you tell him that?"

"No," Annabeth replied. "But if you want to tell him, go ahead."

I nodded and flanked back to Nathan.

"Clarisse's spear is electrified." I said.

"What?" Nathan responded. "How do you know?"

"I just asked Annabeth." I said.

"Why she didn't tell me?"

"I don't know- maybe you annoyed her," I responded.

"Not funny!"

"Look, if she comes at you, just avoid the spear and stay on her blind side," I said.

"And if I'm out numbered?"

I sighed. "Just stay near the creek and you'll be fine."

"What do you mean stay near the creek?" He asked.

I immediately move up ahead without answering. I didn't want to tell Nate that I would come to his aid if he's outnumbered, mostly because I didn't want to get Nathan's hoped up. Nathan needed to fight his own battles after all. But if Nathan is near the creek, I can find him.

* * *

After reaching our half of the forest, the Blue Team that was defending parties containing the unclaimed and half of Apollo's kids went to their designation. Meanwhile, Athena's Cabin, Hermes' kids, remaining Apollo's kids, and I were either the attack force or scouting party.

As soon as the horn went off, Annabeth gave me the nod. I nodded back before I concentrated, brought my hands above my head and began to absorb the Red Team's strength and stamina through the air, without the others noticing my action.

One by one, the Red Team members began to fall down exhausted. Some members that trying to assault us, immediately fainted, tiredly.

"What in Hades is going on?" One of the Apollo's kids asked.

But he soon forgot his question as our team immediately incapacitated the rest of the Red Team that either fall asleep or surrendering themselves.

"Percy, you can go help Nathan. We've already disarmed most Red Team members, but we couldn't find Clarisse and some of her siblings among them." Annabeth said.

I nodded and the group broke up into smaller groups and spread out through the forest, while some stayed to guard the prisoners –which were a lot.

It only took minutes for me to find Nathan with his sword and shield near the creek. The shield was far too big for Nate, and the helmet seemed to keep falling over his eyes.

Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.

I raised my shield instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me.

Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.

It was then, on the other side of the creek, where Nathan was standing, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.

"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.

Her eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five foot long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard issue bronze sword, which did not made Nathan feel any better. Clarisse and her goons charged toward Nathan. One of her cabin mates slashed his sword across Nate's arm, leaving a good-size cut.

I concentrated again and try to absorb their stamina. Before they could charge Nathan again, they already passed out exhausted-which confused him.

"What's going on-"He then looked to me. "Percy? Did you do this?"

I shrugged. "Maybe."

He frowned at me, but soon we heard yelling, elated screams, and saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the Red Team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollo's behind them, fighting off the rest of the Hephaestus kids that I don't absorb their stamina.

"Hey! We won!" Nathan exclaimed. "Percy, whatever you did back then must be the reason why our team won!"

I grinned. The rest of our team found Clarisse and her goons- still asleep- and immediately disarmed them. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of Cabin Eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn. The game was over. We'd won.

"Not bad hero," Annabeth's voice said next to Nathan. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she just took it off.

Instead of being shock, Nathan was angry as he said, "You set me up. You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."

"Well, credit goes to Percy and without him, you probably wouldn't be standing here." Annabeth said.

Nathan turned to glare at me, but his glares immediately fell off when Annabeth noticed his wounded arm.

"How did you do that?"

"Sword cut," he said. "What do you think?"

My eyes widened. "No. It was a sword cut. Look at it!"

The blood from his arm was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As we watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.

Annabeth and I just stood there, gawked.

"I-I don't get it," Nathan said.

Annabeth was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at Nathan's feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Nathan."

"What-"

"Just do it." I said.

He came out of the creek and immediately looked bone tired. His arms looked numb. He almost fell over, but I steadied him.

"Oh Styx," she cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want… I assumed it would be Zeus…"

Before we could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.

The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I had understood perfectly as: "Stand ready! My bow!"

We drew our sword.

There on the rocks just above us, was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.

It was looking straight at Nate.

Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Nathan, run!"

Annabeth and I tried to step in front of Nathan, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over us- an enormous shadow with- and just as it hit Nate, as he stumbled backward, with the hound's razor- sharp claws ripping through his armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other while I concentrated again to absorb the hound's enormous power. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows, before the monster fell dead at Nathan's feet.

By some miracle, he was still alive.

Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.

Suddenly Clarisse yelled- apparently she woke up during the hound's attack. "It's all Nathan's fault! Nathan summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child, "Chiron told her.

We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Nathan, get in the water."

"I'm okay." He said.

"No, you're not," I said. "Chiron, watch this."

Nathan stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around us.

And some of the campers gasped.

"Look, I-I don't know why," He said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry…"

"Nate! Look above your head!" I'm pointing toward his head.

By the time he looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.

A trident.

The Big Three's Vow.

O-ow.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured.

"This is really not good." I continued, slightly shaking.

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All around us, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.

"My father?" Nathan asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Nathan Dorian, Son of the Sea God."

And when his hologram fading, one of the campers shouted. "Look! Percy also gets claimed!"

I raised my eyebrows and turned to Chiron, who just sighed. "It seems that your mother decided to claim you again. Only this time, in front of the public…"

I groaned as I saw the same indigo scales hologram above my head again. And as I expected, the entire campers looked at the hologram, confused and curious- just like how Annabeth saw my hologram on the first time.

Then, the campers- include Annabeth- and Nathan, who looked even more confused- all kneeled down before me as Chiron announced it.

"Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of Nemesis, the Goddess of Revenge, Spirit of Divine Retribution, and the Goddess of Balance."

Oh well, the secret is out now.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!**


	10. We've Got Our First Quest

**Chapter 9: We've Got Our First Quest**

The next morning, Chiron moved Nathan to cabin three while I stayed in cabin eleven.

Nate was very lucky to have a cabin all for himself; meanwhile I have to share with demigods in Hermes cabin. Not to mention, the fact that almost all the campers in camp are looking at me curiously and some are asking me a bunch of questions, like:

"What are your powers?"

"Are there any more of Nemesis' children like you?"

"Are you here to punish us?"

"Are you a brain child too?"

The last one came from an Athena child. I was confused at first, but after Annabeth explained to me about how all Athena's children came from the goddess head, I just shook my head on the last question. There's no way I'm going to explain to an 8 years old boy about how I was born even if he is a son of Athena.

Because my mother just informed me –from my mind-that I was born normally.

Athena' campers are the ones that more curious than the others, but thanks to Annabeth, I don't have to encounter any complicated question from them. Although, Annabeth sometimes had to pass their questions to me, because she had no information about certain questions.

I surprised all of Athena's children when they found me reading a few English books for Annabeth like it was normal for me to read. And you know what happen next, Annabeth is no longer the only listener for my book reading anymore. They even brought me some more English books for me to read to them, like old literature book, psychology, biology, and other advanced learning stuff that only Athena's kids seems to enjoy. I don't know where they've got all of those books- due to the fact that they are dyslexic like the rest of the campers, but they told me that those books were sent from their fathers on their requests.

Slowly, all campers started to get used to me. They treated me like an ordinary demigods instead of alienate me for being different than them. Clarisse and the other Ares' kids respected me even more, since Ares had no quarrel with my mother and the fact that one of his children is a minor deity of revenge- and my mom's handmaiden.

However, after Nathan was claimed, the poor guy was treated like he was a plague or something. Annabeth and the rest of Athena Cabin started treating him like he was their sworn rival or enemy due to the rivalry between Athena and Poseidon. Luckily for Nate, I'm still befriending with him. Including Grover and Luke- who seemed to keep their friendship with him as well. Luke even gives Nathan private sword lessons, although that's mostly because none of the other Hermes kids and unclaimed wanted to train with the guy, who happens to be a child of a broken vow.

Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I found they were all talking about it behind Nathan's back. The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: One, that Nathan was the son of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill him, which also endanger the entire camp as well.

* * *

That night, I had my worst dream yet.

I was on a beach during a storm; I observed things as I found Nathan was trying to run along the beach in a storm. There was a city in the distant, but it wasn't New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.

About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green. They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.

Nathan tried to run to them, but the wind flew him back, until he was running in place.

I tried to run to him, but found myself unable to move.

Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, _Give it back! Give it back!_ Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.

The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying both of us with salt.

I struggled to help Nathan but it felt as if I was cemented in place.

The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice.

 _Come down, little hero,_ the voice crooned to Nate. _Come down!_

The sand split beneath Nathan, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. Nate's feet slipped, and darkness swallowed him.

I was freed but before I could go to Nate, I sensed something watching over me.

I turned and saw a beautiful woman, dressed in void black, mixed with the colors of a space nebula, as if galaxies were being born in her bodice. Her face was hard to see except for the pinpoints of her eyes, which shone like quasars. She has wings that when it beat, waves of darkness rolled over the cliffs.

 _Now what would you do to save your friend, my grandson?_ She said.

* * *

I woke with a start in Cabin Eleven. Judging from the snoring from my cabin mates, I guessed that I was the only one awake, which is really uncommon. I decided to get dressed up and take a walk around the camp.

However, I didn't get the chance as the moment I got out of the cabin, I saw Grover and Nathan both leaving Cabin Three, and judging from Grover's worried look, it wasn't a good thing.

"Hey!" I said.

"Oh, hey Percy," Nate said.

"What's going on?"

"Chiron has summoned Nate to the Big House," Grover said, looking worried.

"Probably so Mr. D can kill me for existing," Nate muttered.

"But it's not Nathan's fault that Poseidon broke his oath to have him, right?" I asked.

"Maybe so, but Mr. D has bad history with children of Poseidon since Theseus." Grover said.

"Oh right, Ariadne." I responded. I remembered the story of how Dionysus married Ariadne of Crete after she was abandoned by Theseus on an island. "I better go with you guys."

I think Nathan was glad that I decided to stay with them. Grover wanted to protest since and Mr. D wanted only Nathan, but he already knew me. Once I make up my mind, there was no changing it.

Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. Nate asked Grover if we needed an umbrella.

"No." he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."

"I don't know," I said as I looked at the sky. "It doesn't look like it's planning to pass around us."

It seems that I wasn't the only one worried about the storm. At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.

Grover, Nathan, and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on both of our first days. Chiron sat across the table in his magical wheelchair. They were playing against invisible opponents- two sets of cards hovering in the air.

"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity. Come closer. And don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."

A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.

"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.

Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth, while I stood next to him with my arms crossed in front of my chest.

"If I had my way," Mr. D said to Nate, completely ignoring me. "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp to keep you runts from harm."

"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in.

"Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."

"Mr. D—" Chiron said.

"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly and foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Nathan Dorian, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much better choice than what Chiron feels you must do."

Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle security pass.

He then nodded to me, after he was surprised to see me. He snapped his fingers and the air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, and then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.

Chiron smiled at Nathan, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Nathan, please. And you too, Grover and Percy."

We did.

Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.

"Tell me, Nathan," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"

Nathan blinked before answering. "It scared me. If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."

"You'll meet worse, Nathan, Far worse, before you're done."

"Done… with what?" Nathan asked. He looked to me, expecting an answer, but I gave him an equal confused look.

"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"

Grover was crossed his fingers with hope.

"Sir?" I said. "You haven't told Nate what it is yet."

Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach as the sky and sea were boiling together.

"Poseidon and Zeus," Nathan said. "They're fighting over something valuable… something that was stolen, aren't they?"

Chiron and Grover exchange looks.

Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"

"Well for one thing-"I started off. "The sky and sea seem to have been fighting since Christmas."

Nathan nodded. "Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft. And… I've also been having these dreams."

I fought the urge to say I have been too. Thankfully, Grover interrupted by saying, "I knew it."

"Hush, satyr." Chiron ordered.

"But it is his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"

"Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Nathan, you and Percy are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."

Nate laughed nervously. "A _what_?"

I whacked Nathan on the back of the head. Clearly, this wasn't a laughing matter.

"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."

"Oh."

"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."

"And it's missing?" I asked.

"Stolen," Chiron said.

"By who?" Nathan asked.

"By _whom_ ," Chiron corrected. "By you."

Nathan's mouth fell open.

"At least"-Chiron held up a hand-"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly-that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."

"But I didn't-"

"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."

"But I've never been to Olympus!" Nathan argued.

"It's true. I was with him during the winter holidays, and we never been in the Empire State Building." I said. "Not to mention, we had absolutely no clue where Olympus was much less knew it was real until Annabeth told us."

"Maybe so, but it wouldn't be the first time Poseidon tried to unseat Zeus." Chiron said.

"Wasn't that because Poseidon wanted Zeus to be a better leader?" I asked.

"Yes, but Zeus didn't see it that way, and ever since then he never trusted his brother. Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two having been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw."

"But I'm just a kid!" Nathan argued.

"Nate," Grover cut in. "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you… Wouldn't that twist in your toga?"

"But I didn't do anything," Nathan said. "Poseidon-my dad-he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"

Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus demanded that Poseidon returned the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology or being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival has inflamed Zeus' temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Nathan?"

"Bad?" Nathan guessed.

"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water balloon fight. And you, Nathan Dorian, would be the first to feel Zeus' wrath."

It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky, and it didn't ease Nathan's mood.

"So I have to find the stupid bolt," Nathan said. "And return it to Zeus."

"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus' property?"

"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?" I asked.

"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago… well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."

"Why can't you tell him where the bolt is beforehand?" I asked.

"Because if I did, Nathan would be too afraid to accept the challenge."

Nathan swallowed. "Good reason."

"You agree then?"

Nathan looked between me and Grover. I was concern with him, but Grover was nodding encouragingly.

"All right," Nathan said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."

"Then it's time you consult the Oracle." Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Nathan Dorian, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you still sane, we will talk more."

Nate reluctantly nodded and headed into the Big House.

* * *

It's been five minutes since Nate had left to consult the oracle and he hasn't returned.

I wasn't sure if I will be allowed on the quest, but I wanted to be ready just in case. So I started to polish my dagger that I've made from weapon making class with Hephaestus Cabin. One thing I learned in camp was how to clean and sharpened celestial bronze weapons so they will always be in top shape for the next monster fight that I'm sure I will encounter them one day.

Finally, Nathan came out and he looked as if he was hit by a truck.

"Well?" Chiron asked.

Nathan slumped into a chair at the Pinochle Table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."

Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can Dionysus had left. "That's great!"

"What did the Oracle say _exactly_?" Chiron pressed. "This is important."

Nate looked rather reluctant as he spoke, "She… she said I would brought three to west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."

I had a feeling that Nathan was leaving out something, but what? Chiron must also have sensed the same thing because he asked. "Anything else?"

"No." Nathan said. "That's about it."

"Very well, Nathan. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."

"Okay." Nathan said, anxious enough to change the topics. "So, where do I go? Who's the god in the west?"

"Ah, think, Nathan." Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"

"Somebody else who wants to take over?" Nate guessed.

"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."

My eyes widened. "Wait, you don't mean Hades, do you?"

Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."

Even Grover looked scared by this possibility.

"A Fury came after Nathan." Chiron reminded them. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."

"Yeah, but- but Hades hates _all_ heroes." Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Nathan is a son of Poseidon…"

"A hellhound got into the forest." Chiron continued. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must had suspect Poseidon will try to use Nathan to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."

"Great." Nathan muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me."

Something is fishy about this information. Sure, Chiron was right about the Fury being a servant of Hades, and the hellhound too. But if I remembered correctly of what Mrs. Dodds said when she was trying to kill us, or rather demanded. Mrs. Dodds was looking for something, _not_ someone.

"But the quest to…" Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this year."

"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full and well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Nathan must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."

Nathan seemed to be full of anticipation and desire for revenge-because I could literally sense the aura of revenge flared up inside him- but at the same time, he looked hesitant at the idea of going up against a god.

Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.

I decided to speak up, going with their theory. "Look, if we know its Hades, why can't we just tell the other gods? Maybe one of them will listen to reason if they knew that Zeus and Poseidon are being set up. I bet Athena already realize about this earlier."

"Maybe so, Percy, but suspecting and knowing are not the same thing." Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspected Hades-and I imagined some does- they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves, Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. Primordial Gods however, could cross each god's territories freely."

Something tells me that the beautiful woman that I saw on my dream last night was a Primordial.

"That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere; challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?" Chiron said.

"You're saying I'm being used." Nathan said.

"I'm saying it was no accident Poseidon claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."

Nathan's face seemed to be mixed with resentful, grateful, happy, and angry all at once.

I turned to Chiron. "You've known Nathan was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"

"I had my suspicions. As I said, Percy… I've spoken to the Oracle, too."

"So let me get this straight." Nathan said. "I'm supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead, find the most powerful weapon in the universe, and get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."

"That's about right," Chiron agreed.

"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" Grover asked weakly after eating the ace of hearts.

"You don't have to go," Nathan told him. "I can't ask that of you."

"Oh…" He shifted his hooves. "No… it's just that satyrs and underground places… well…"

He took a deep breath, and then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Nathan. You and Percy both did. If… if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."

"Me too." I said. "After all, I do need some experience from the quest. And with my mom basically talking to me through my head…"

"She did?" Chiron asked. "Never mind. Knowing Nemesis and since you are her _only_ child, I don't doubt that she will be overprotective around you. Just like any new mother."

Both Nathan and Grover snickered. I glared toward them.

"So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west." Nathan said.

"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course it's in America."

"Where?" Nathan asked.

Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that it would be obvious enough."

"Um, Chiron, up until over a week ago, Nathan didn't know the gods were real and he never left the state of New York." I reminded him.

"Oh, right." Chiron said, forgetting about it. "Well, the entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."

"Oh," Nathan said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane-"

"No!" Grover shrieked. "Nathan, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"

Nathan shook his head.

"Nathan, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus' domain and you would never come down again alive."

Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed.

"Okay," Nathan said. "So, I'll travel overland."

"That's right." Chiron said. "Also, under normal circumstance I will only allow Percy and Grover go with you, but since the Oracle prophesized it, you must have a third companion in this quest. Fortunately, someone has already volunteered, if you will accept her help."

"Gee," Nathan said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"

The air shimmered behind Chiron once again.

Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.

"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," she said, "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to help keep you from messing up."

"What am I? Chop liver?" I asked.

"If you do say so yourself," Nathan said. "I suppose you have a plan, wise girl?"

Her cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?"

"She's a daughter of Athena, Nate. We do need the brain for this quest." I stated.

"Fine." Nathan said. "Four will work."

"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you four as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you're on your own."

Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadow that were never supposed to have violent weather.

"No time to waste," Chiron said, "I think you should all get packing."

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: And now I'm tired... I hope you enjoyed this chapter !**


	11. This Bus is on Fire

**Chapter 10: This Bus is on Fire**

Good thing that I grabbed my backpack before the Minotaur destroyed Mrs. Dorian's car and that I keep most of my camping gears in there, because I only had to go to the camp store to get the demigod essentials I didn't have as well as some extra gear, just in case if I lost some of my equipment during the quest.

Before I go to the camp store however, Clarisse approached me. And she looked like something terrible had happened to her or to Ares Cabin.

"Hey, Clarisse." I greeted, and then I noticed her distraught looks. "Is something wrong?"

Clarisse frowned for a second before saying, "My father appeared in my dream last night. He wants you to help him to find something important."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Few days ago, right after the winter solstice, my father's shield was stolen right from his temple. He asked several gods to help him find it, but no one cares! My siblings and I had been begging to Chiron to let us go on a quest to retrieve Ares' shield, but he wouldn't let us." Clarisse explained. "And since you are about to go on a quest, would you retrieve Ares' shield for us? You will earn Ares' favor if you succeed."

Ares had lost his shield? Hmm, whoever this thief is must be the same thief who stole Zeus' master bolt. Do the other gods also have their symbol of power stolen as well?

"Don't worry, Clarisse. We will find the shield." I said.

Clarisse sighed. "Good." Before she walks away from me, she added, "But don't tell the others about this. If you do, I will maim you with my spear!"

After buying everything that necessary for the quest, the camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions-whatever that meant. He gave Nathan, Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally.

Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which was a twelfth birthday present from her mom; a book on famous classical architecture, written in ancient Greek, to read when she got bored; and a long bronze knife hidden in her shirt sleeve.

Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him. Grover only knew two songs on the reed pipes, and neither sound good.

Nate had a borrowed backpack full of the usual demigod essentials and one set of spare clothes that he arrived in since his luggage was destroyed along with the car.

We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him was a guy in a chauffeur's uniform. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprise, but I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.

"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."

That must be the worst pun I ever heard.

Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.

"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."

Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.

"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told Nathan. "And I thought ... um, maybe you could use these."

He handed Nate the pair of sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of norm- wait, why it smelled like brimstone and magic?

Luke said, " _Maia!"_

White bird wings sprouted out of the heels, startling Nathan so much, he dropped them. The shoes flapped around until the wings folded up and disappeared.

"Awesome!" Grover said.

Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. I would give the pair to you, Percy, but I figured with your excellent agility, you wouldn't have much use for them anyways."

"It's okay, Luke." I said.

"Listen, Nathan…" Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just… kill some monsters for me, okay?"

Luke shook Nathan's hand, patted me on the shoulder, patted Grover on the head between the horns, and then gave a goodbye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out.

After Luke was gone, Nathan told her, "You're hyperventilating."

"Am not."

"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"

"Oh… why do I want to go anywhere with you, Nathan?"

Grover and I muffled our laughs.

She stomped down the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed her, jingling his car keys.

Nathan picked up the flying shoes and turned to Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"

He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Nathan. But taking to the air… that would not be wise for you."

Nathan nodded and turned to me. "How about you, Perce?"

"As tempting as it is, I think Luke is right. I don't really going to rely on those shoes that much because of my agility. Besides, I have telekinesis and I could just absorb our enemies' strength anyway." I responded.

Nathan nodded and turned to Grover. "What about you G-Man? You want a magical item?"

His eyes lit up. "Me?"

Pretty soon we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.

" _Maia!_ " he shouted.

He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.

"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"

"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.

"I should have trained both of you better," Chiron said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason—they all got more training."

"It's okay. I just wish—"

I knew what was on Nathan's mind, because like him, I also want some kind of magical item or weapon I could use.

"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you two get away without these."

He pulled out two pens from his coat pocket and handed each one to me and Nate. Those pens were ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. The difference is, Nate's pen is sea green colored while mine is black.

I remembered seeing it on the sword I used on the Fury. I uncapped the pen. When I did, it expanded into a double edged celestial bronze blade with a symbol of scales engraved at the end, with a leather-wrapped grip that seems to be enchanted with something that cause the grip to glow in a shade of dark purple.

"Whoa!" Nathan said. "I wonder-"

Nathan uncapped his pen and the pen grew longer and heavier in his hand. In a half a second, he was holding a shimmering bronze with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs.

"Nathan, your sword is a gift from your father. I kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one. But beware. The sword has a long tragic history that we need not go into." Chiron told him, "Its name is _Anaklusmos_."

"Riptide." Nate translated.

Chiron then turned to me. "Percy, your mother gave me that sword. It was the same sword she used back in the ancient times. She said it was blessed by both of her parents-your grandparents- Erebus and Nyx. Primordial god of Darkness and Primordial goddess of Night.

I was speechless. No wonder the gods are afraid of my mother. With parents so powerful like that…

"The sword's name is _A_ _polýtrōsis_ _._ " Chiron said.

"Redemption?" I responded. Strange, the name doesn't sound fitting knowing what kind of domain my mother has.

Chiron smiled sadly to me. "It was named _E_ _kdíkēsis_ _-_ vengeance- at first, but she renamed it after… what happened to your father."

My heart felt like it slumped into my stomach. I never thought that the death of my father could affect my mother that much. She must have really loved my dad that much.

"Use these only for emergencies," Chiron said. "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but these swords wouldn't harm them in any case."

"What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals?" Nathan asked. "How could it not?"

"The swords are celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply are not important enough for the blades to kill. And I should warn both of you: as a demigod, you two can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You two are twice as vulnerable."

"Great." I muttered.

"Now, both of you recap your pen."

We touched the pen caps to our sword tips and instantly Riptide and Redemption shrank to a ballpoint pen again. I tucked it in my jacket pocket.

"But what if a mortal sees us pulling out a sword?" Nate asked.

Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Nathan."

"Mist?"

"Yes. Read _The Iliad_. It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans. You will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."

Nathan put Riptide in his pocket.

"Chiron…" he said. "When you say the gods are immortal… I mean, there was a time _before_ them, right?"

"Four ages to be actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age, which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."

"So what was it like… before the gods?"

Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free for all knowledge. But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall. Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western Civilization was born."

I nodded, understanding it.

"Now, keep a clear, Nathan, and remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history." Chiron said.

That doesn't sound very comforting for Nathan.

"Relax." Nate said. "I'm very relaxed."

When we got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.

* * *

Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island. I've got the front seat while Nate, Annabeth, and Grover sat in the back.

"So far so good," Nathan told Annabeth. "Ten miles and not a single monster."

Annabeth gave him an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain. Also, remember that Percy is a son of Nemesis, which mean that there is highly a chance that she will hear your statement and begin to tamper our luck, because she hates those with too much luck." She then looked to me. "No offence, Percy."

I just smiled. "None taken."

Nathan frowned at her. "Remind me again-why do you hate me so much?"

"I don't hate you."

"Could've fooled me."

She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look… we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."

"Why?"

She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."

"They must really like olives."

"No, that's because they found the olive tree to be more useful than saltwater spring. Olive tree brought wood, oil, and food." I said. I'm pretty much irritated with Nate right now. Did he even listen to me when I tutored him?

Annabeth nodded. "See? Even Percy knows about it."

"Oh, forget it." Nathan said, visibly annoyed now.

Argus smiled as he listened to the whole argument.

* * *

Traffic slowed down in Queens. By the time we got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.

Argus dropped us off at Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my uncle's apartment.

I noticed a soggy flyer taped on the electric pole across my apartment with a picture of Nathan on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?

I ripped it down before the others could notice.

Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.

I was thinking of paying a visit to Uncle Gabe first while waiting, but I realized that the monster would probably after my uncle if three demigods were on one place together. Instead, I wrote a note to my uncle, saying that I am currently fine and on a quest, then left it in our mailbox.

Nathan and Annabeth got restless –due to their ADHD- waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Nathan asked me to join the game. Annabeth was unbelievable. She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, etc. I could also do the same thing like her, but also with my head and my arm. Nathan wasn't too bad himself.

The game ended when Nathan tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared-core, stem, and all.

Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Nathan, Annabeth, and I were too busy cracking up.

* * *

Finally the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy-enchiladas.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."

But I could tell it wasn't nothing. I started looking over my shoulder, too.

I was relieved when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. We stowed our backpacks. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh. I also began to twiddling my pen in my fingers.

And then I saw something that made my stomach churned.

An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, laced gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadow her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered.

It was Mrs. Dodds, but in a different form.

Annabeth must have recognized her as well, because she clamped Nate's knee and when he looked, he paled and scrunch down in his seat.

Behind Mrs. Dodds came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Other than the hats, they all looked the same.

The Furies. All three of them. Our luck is finally run off.

Mom, really? Even to your own son?

They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two in the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.

The bus pulled out of the station, and they headed through a slick streets of Manhattan.

"She didn't stay dead long," Nathan muttered. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."

"I said if you're _lucky_ ," Annabeth said. "You're obviously angered Percy's mom enough for her to punish us."

"Annabeth. Not funny." I said, clearly not liking our situation right now.

"Sorry."

"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"

"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."

"They don't open," Grover moaned.

"A back exit?" she suggested.

"There wasn't one." What kind of bus is this?!

Right now, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.

"They won't attack us with witnesses around," Nate said. "Will they?"

"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded him. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."

"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"

She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof ... ?"

We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.

Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."

"So do I," said the second sister.

"So do I," said the third sister.

They all started coming down the aisle.

"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Nathan, take my hat."

"What?"

"You're the only one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."

"But you guys—"

"There's an outside chance they might notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three Your smell might be overpowering."

"He won't go with the plan." I said. "Not when our lives are in danger."

Mom, if you are hearing this, I'm going to die in a minute and it's your fault.

I looked at the driver at the bus and got an idea. "But I have another plan."

I whispered my plan to them. Nate nodded to the idea, while Annabeth reluctantly went with it as it was a modified version of hers.

It was then that the Furies made their way to us. When they did, their forms began to change until they all looked just like Mrs. Dodds did back in the museum with black coal eyes, sharp teeth and leathery like wings. What was worse was that their handbags were now whips made out of fire.

Annabeth drew out her dagger; I uncapped Redemption, while Grover armed himself with tin cans.

The Furies surrounded both of us, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is _it_? Where?"

"What?" I asked, still gripping on my sword.

"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled.

"Annabeth! I think they're looking for something! Not someone!"

The Furies raised their whips.

Just when the furies were about to lunge at us, the bus suddenly swerved, causing the three furies to smack into the side of the bus. It also cause everyone else to do the same.

And with another hard left and right the Furies swung around, I moved in on the first Fury and swung my sword clean through the unguarded Fury causing it to turn into monster down. That's one down.

However, before I could make another swing at the Fury, the bus went into a 180 spin before stopping. My sword flew from my hand and accidentally stabbed right in the Fury's chest, turning her into monster dust.

I quickly whispered a prayer to my mom.

Unfortunately, Nathan, who's only job was to use the bus to throw off the Furies, decided to take off the Yankees cap and yell, "Hey!" which of course draw the last Fury.

"Nathaniel Dorian," The Fury said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. But somehow I could still identify her as Mrs. Dodds. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."

"I liked you better as a math teacher," He told her.

She growled.

I could literally hear my mom face palming somewhere above. Yep, like mother like son.

Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Fury cautiously, looking for an opening. I gripped onto Redemption, seeking for a chance to stab the Fury.

Nathan took his ballpoint pen out of his pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.

Mrs. Dodds hesitated.

She had felt Riptide's and Redemption's blades before. She obviously didn't like seeing those two again.

"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."

"Nice try," He told her.

"Nathan, Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried.

"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"

"Braccas meas vescimini!" I yelled.

I wasn't sure where the Latin came from, but I think it meant "Eat my pants!"

Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of my neck.

"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at us. "Now!"

We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian shirted tourist with a camera was about to snap our photo if only a golden blonde haired guy didn't suddenly stand in front of him.

I immediately grabbed my bag when I found it tossed away from this entire ruckus.

"Our bags!" Grover realized when he noticed he, Annabeth, and Nathan were the only ones without them, "We left our—"

BOOOOOM!

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.

"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"

We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness ahead.

I could hear my mother crying in my head. The bus explosion must have reminded her with the death of my father.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Updating as fast as I can. Well, sort off... I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **I didn't use Google Translate for Percy's sword name, but I browsed through Google for that though.**

 **It's still the same thing, isn't it?**


	12. The Red Baron and The Sea Boy

**AUTHOR NOTE: I've got a new laptop! Which is why I updated this a little late. I have to get used with the keyboard arrangement on this new laptop.**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: The Red Baron and The Sea Boy**

It's really nice to know that there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.

Also, I realized that my father wasn't died from an accident back then. The lightning just suddenly struck our car in a clear night skies? Oh, and it happens that Zeus wants to kill me from the first place?

From all Twelve Olympians, I think Zeus is the worst king ever. Seriously, why can't Poseidon or Hades be the one who rule over Olympus? I do not hate the Olympians, but I think they need a better ruler.

Uncle Gabe already told me to always prepare for anything. He's right. My friends were glad that I shared my extra supplies to them. And I never expected that I would be using the food supplies so soon during the quest.

So there we were, Nathan, Annabeth, Grover and I, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind us, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our noses.

Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

Nathan was pretty much in shock himself. The explosion of bus windows still rang in his ears. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

"All our money was back there," Nathan reminded her. "Our food and clothes. If Percy didn't keep his backpack with him, we would probably starve right now."

"Well, maybe if we went by my plan in the first place, we might still have our supplies."

"You realize you're talking about Percy's plan, right?"

Annabeth sighed. I could sense a bit of a pride issue with her.

We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.

After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to Nate. "Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

"We're a team, right?"

She was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died ... aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."

The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.

"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" Nathan asked her.

"No ... only short field trips. My dad-"

"The history professor."

"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood _is_ my home." She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."

There was a slight sound of doubt in her voice when she said that.

"You're pretty good with that knife," He said.

"You think so?"

"Anybody who can challenge a Fury is okay by me."

I smiled as it seems that Nate and Annabeth finally seemed to finally get along. Even before Nate was claimed, it seemed that they could hardly get along without some kind of argument.

"You know," she said, "maybe I should tell you ... Something funny back on the bus ..."

Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.

"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"

He puffed out a few notes, but the tune sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.

Instead of finding a path, Nathan immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on his head.

I quickly grab the reed pipes away from Grover, who muttered apologizes to Nate.

* * *

After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, I started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. I could smell food. Fried, greasy food.

Across the road was a closed down gas station with tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indian and cemented grizzly bears and other stuff, and a bright neon light sign. The main building was a long, low warehouse surrounded by acres of statuary. The Neon sign above the gate was impossible for Nathan and Annabeth to read because it was in red cursive neon writing.

"What the heck does that say?" Nathan asked.

"I don't know." Annabeth replied.

I translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium. Huh, what a strange name."

Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.

"Am I the only one creeped out by that?" I said.

"They're just garden gnomes," Nate said as he crossed the street.

"Hey…" Grover warned.

"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."

"Snack bar," Nathan said wistfully.

"Snack bar," she agreed.

"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."

They of course ignored him. I just shrugged at this and decided to follow them.

The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.

 _"Bla-ha-ha!"_ he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"

I started getting a shiver down my back. I gripped onto Redemption in my pocket, fully prepared for the worst case scenario.

We stopped at the warehouse door.

"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."

"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies, "Annabeth told him, "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"

Whatever this scent is must have some strong attraction toward demigods.

But I'm a demigod too! Why I'm not influenced from this scent?

"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."

"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Nathan reminded him.

"Those or vegetables."

"Grover's right," I responded. "Something about this place feels wrong."

Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall woman that was dressed in a long black gown that covered everything but her hands and her head was completely veiled like a Middle Eastern Woman. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but we couldn't see her eyes. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant.

She spoke in a vague Middle Easter accent, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?

"They're… um…" Annabeth started to say.

"We're orphans." Nate said.

"Orphans," the woman said. "But, my dears! Surely not!"

"We got separated from our caravan," Nathan said, "Our circus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"

If I didn't sense a danger, I would probably laugh. That was the most pathetic excuse of a lie I ever heard since Grover tried to go along with the Mrs. Kerr lie.

"OH, my dears," the woman said. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."

We thanked her and went inside.

Annabeth muttered to Nathan, "Circus Caravan?"

"Always have a strategy, right?"

"Your head is full of kelp."

The warehouse was filed with more statue—people in all different poses, wearing all different expressions on their faces, and all were life size, and all looked life like, like they were once alive before they were a statue. However, Nate and even Annabeth were acting like they never eat for few days.

I wouldn't blame them. Something about this place felt welcoming while at the same time had the aura of danger. Not to mention, the smell of greasy food that would be overwhelming to mortals.

Aunty Em took us to the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser.

"Please, sit down." Aunty Em said.

"Awesome." Nate said.

"Um." Grover looked like he's trying to come up with a lie. "We don't have any money."

Before Nate could respond, Aunty Em said, "No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."

"Thank you, ma'am." Annabeth said.

Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly.

"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child." Only later did I wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, even though we had never introduced ourselves.

Our hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before we knew it, she'd brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries.

Nathan chowed down the burger while Annabeth slurped her shake. Only Grover and I were hesitant.

"What's that hissing noise?" Grover asked.

I listened and did in fact hear a faint yet familiar hissing sound. It sounded almost like from a snake.

"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."

"I take vitamins. For my ears."

I knew better, or at least I think I do.

"That's admirable," she said. "But please, relax. You too, Percy. You should try to eat something."

Reluctantly, I took a cheeseburger and ate it carefully. It's really tasty, but I'm not too focusing on the flavor.

"So, you sell gnomes?" Nate said, trying to sound interested.

"Oh, yes," Aunty Em said. "And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know."

"A lot of business on this road?"

"Not so much, no. Since the highway was built… most cars, they do not go this way now. I must cherish every customer I get."

I looked and saw that many of the statues had scared expressions, like they were frightened.

"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face."

"You make these statues yourself?" I asked.

"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company."

There was sadness in her voice that almost made me felt pity until Annabeth stopped eating, sat forward and said, "Two sisters?"

"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em said. "Not one for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young. I had a… a boyfriend, you know, this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."

It was then when I realized who Aunty Em really was, and why there was a strong sense of danger in the air.

At this point, only Nathan was showing sympathy.

"Nathan?" Annabeth was shaking him to get his attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting."

"Yeah." I agreed. "Especially since I'm his star young trapeze artist."

Grover was eating the waxed paper off the tray now.

"Such beautiful gray eyes, Annabeth." Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those."

She reached out as if to stroke Annabeth's cheek, but Annabeth stood up abruptly.

"We really should go."

"Yes!" Grover swallowed his waxed paper and stood up. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!"

I was all too glad to stand up too, but Nate was still being stubborn.

"Please, dears." Aunty Em pleaded. "I'm so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"

"A pose?" I asked warily.

"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."

Annabeth shifted from foot to foot. "I don't think we can ma'am. Come on, Nate-"

"Sure we can," He said. He looked irritated to me and Annabeth. "It's just a photo, guys. What's the harm?"

"Yes, Annabeth and Percy." The woman purred. "No harm."

Unfortunately, we had no other choice but had Aunty Em lead us back out the front door into the garden of statues at the park bench.

"Now," she said, "I'll just position you correctly. The young girl in the middle, I think, Nathan and Grover on either side of her, and—yes, Percy why don't you stand behind?"

We did as we were told.

"Not much light for a photo." Nate remarked.

"Oh, enough," Aunty Em said. "Enough for us to see each other, yes? Ah, Percy dear, what are you doing?"

I was about to raise my hand to move some of the statues to hit directly to Aunty Em, but she caught me almost doing it. "I was deciding what cool pose I should do. I want to make this count after all." I said.

"Oh don't worry honey. Just stand there and smile."

Aunty Em stepped back as if to admire the shot. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please, everyone? A large smile?"

Grover glanced at the cement satyr next to him and mumbled, "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."

"Grover," Aunty Em chastised, "look this way, dear. Oh, Percy, I told you not to worry about your pose, so will you stop waving your hands around, dear."

"Sorry, force of habit." I lied.

"Nathan-" Annabeth said.

"I will be just be a moment." Aunty Em said. "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed veil…"

"Nathan, something's wrong." Annabeth insisted.

"Wrong?" Aunty Em said, reaching up to undo the wrap around her head. "Not at all, dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?"

"That _is_ Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped.

"Look away from her!" Annabeth shouted. She whipped her Yankees cap onto her head and vanished. I pushed Nathan and Grover into the ground as I looked at Aunty Em's true eyes- or rather Medusa's true face, a chocolate brown skin with snakes for hair- which explains why the sound was familiar.

"My first victim!" Medusa said.

I gasped as I realized that I just stared directly at Medusa's eyes, but I'm confused as nothing happen to me.

Medusa stared at me as confused as I was. "What? How?"

"Run!" Grover bleated as he raced across the gravel, yelling _"Maia!"_ to kick-start his flying sneakers.

However, Nathan didn't move.

"Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face," Aunty Em told Nathan soothingly. "Stay with me, Nathan. All you have to do is look up."

Nathan looked tempted until he saw a gazing ball nearby and saw Medusa's true face as well and realize who she was.

"The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, Nathan," Medusa said continue, "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."

Before she could continue however, I hit her shoulder with Redemption. She screeched in pain, but it didn't kill her.

"Don't put all the blame on Athena!" I yelled. "Your actions have as much fault for your curse!"

"Silence!" Medusa hissed. Then her voice modulated back to a comforting purr as she turned to Nate. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Nathan. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Nathan, you need not suffer."

"No," He muttered. He tried to make his legs move.

"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Nathan? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."

And then, I moved two statues into the air, hit Medusa right on her head, but it didn't knock her out. Grover then came in with a tree branch while still flying; his eyes closed tight, and hit Medusa using his sense of smell. Medusa snarled at me and Grover.

Right next to Nate, Annabeth's voice said. "Nathan!"

Nathan jumped so high, his feet nearly cleared a garden gnome! "Jeez! Don't do that!"

Annabeth took off her Yankees cap and become visible. "You have to cut her head off."

"What? Are you crazy? Let's get out of here."

"Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but…" Annabeth swallowed, as if she were about to make a difficult admission. "But you and Percy got better weapon. Besides, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You-you've got a chance."

"What? I can't—"

"Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues?"

"Well, no, but how—"

"Hey!" I yelled. "Little help here? I could absorb Medusa's strength to render her weak enough, but I couldn't keep it too long. I need someone to cut her head off!"

Annabeth grabbed a green gazing ball from a nearby pedestal. "A polished shield would be better." She studied the sphere critically. "The convexity will cause some distortion. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of-"

"Would you speak English?"

Before Annabeth could explain further, I beat her to it. "Just look at her in the glass. Never look at her directly."

"But, you just looked directly at her-"

"Does special case demigod ring a bell to you?" I responded. Honestly, I still have no idea why Medusa's gaze can't petrify me.

Annabeth just stared at me, before she muttered. "Immune to any curse. Another perk for Nemesis' kid?"

I frowned when Annabeth had to say it like that. It looks like she began to envy me for being a son of Nemesis.

"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere above us. "I think she's unconscious!"

"Roooaaarrr!"

"Maybe not," Grover corrected. He went in for another pass with the tree branch.

"Hurry," Annabeth told Nate. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually crash."

Nathan nodded and took out his pen and uncapped it. The bronze blade of Riptide elongated in his hand.

He followed the hissing and spitting sounds of Medusa's hair while keeping his eyes on the gazing ball. Then, he saw her.

Grover was coming in for another bat, but this time he flew a little too low. Medusa grabbed the stick and pulled him off course. He tumbled through the air and hit Nathan. Both of them hit the statue of the grizzly bear.

Medusa was about to lunge at both of them, but I decided to intervene. "Hey!"

I advanced on her, while absorbing her strength in a way. She allowed me to approach-twenty feet, ten feet.

"You wouldn't harm an old woman, Percy." She crooned weak as her strength slowly left her. "I know you wouldn't."

I hesitated.

"Don't listen to her!" Grover groaned.

"Grover, would you get off me!" Nathan groaned.

Medusa kept staring at me as if her gaze could finally petrify me, but it didn't. "Such a strange pair of dark eyes you have, Percy. Black as coal, but there is a tiny hint of blue. Who is your parent, Percy? Is she or he treats you better than the other Olympians treat their children? You don't want to be their pawn, do you?"

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "Don't listen to her!"

Medusa cackled. "Too late."

With a little strength left that she has, she lunged at me with her talons. slashed up with my sword and heard a sickening _shlock!_ , then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern—the sound of a monster disintegrating.

Medusa's head fell to the ground next to my foot and blood oozed out toward my feet and snakes were tugging at my shoe laces.

"Oh, yuck!" Grover said.

"Seriously Grover, GET OFF ME!" Nathan responded.

Annabeth came up next to me, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's veil. She said, "Don't move."

Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green blood.

"Are you okay?" she asked me, her voice trembling.

I just nodded, not wanting to answer another questions from Annabeth, since I know she will definitely ask me about why I didn't get petrified by Medusa's gaze.

Meanwhile, Grover and Nathan manage to untangle themselves from the Grizzly Bear statue, both ruffled up and injured. Grover's fake feet were knocked off as his winged shoes circled around them.

"Good job, guys." I said. "The Red Baron, and The Sea Boy in action."

"That was fun," Grover agreed. "Well, except crashing into Nathan and the grizzly bear."

"I'm not really in action though." Nate responded, though he felt like throwing up his double cheeseburger. "Why didn't...why didn't the head evaporated?"

"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," she said. "Same as yours and Percy's minotaur horns. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."

Grover grabbed his shoes as Nathan and I recapped our sword. Together, the four of us stumbled back into the warehouse.

* * *

We found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. We plopped it on the table where we ate dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.

Finally Nathan said, "So, we have Athena to thank for this monster."

Annabeth flashed him an irritated look. "Your dad actually. Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa had her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."

"Oh, so now it's _my_ fault we met Medusa."

"Don't even start it you two," I warned. "Grover and I tried to warn you guys when we were across the street, but _no_ , you were attracted by the smell of greasy fried food like my uncle during Thanksgiving in all-you-can-eat restaurant."

Nathan and Annabeth turned red with embarrassment.

"So, what are we going to do with the head?" Grover asked.

"We could just bury it to the ground." I responded.

"I have a better idea." Nate said. "I'll be back."

"Nathan," Annabeth called after him. "What are you-"

But Nate had already left into the office. When he came back, he had a box and a packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express.

He packed up Medusa's head and filled out a delivery slip:

 _The Gods  
Mount Olympus  
600th Floor,  
Empire State Building  
New York, NY  
With best of wishes,  
_ _NATHAN DORIAN_

"They're not going to like that." Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."

"I _am_ impertinent!" Nathan said as he poured some drachmas, "Maybe this time they won't lose the stupid bolt." He looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize.

She didn't. She seemed resigned to the fact he had a major talent for ticking off the gods, even I thought his plan to be stupid. "Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan."

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!**


	13. We Talked With a Poodle

**Chapter 12: We Talked With a Poodle**

We were pretty miserable that night.

We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.

We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.

We decided to sleep in shifts. I volunteered to take first watch.

I gave Nathan and Annabeth my spare sleeping bags to go with the blankets we took from Medusa's lair. I offered one to Grover, but he turned it down. Annabeth curled up and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground, leaving only us boys awake.

"This makes me sad," Grover said.

"What does?" Nate asked. "The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"

"No. _This_ makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They polluted the sky."

"Tell me about it." I responded. "When I was 5, my dad took me to San Fransisco Bay just to stargazing. "

Grover sighed. "This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist." Nathan said.

He glared at Nathan. "Only an inconsiderate human wouldn't be. Most of your species is clogging up the world so fast... Ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"

"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan!"

"God of Nature and the Wild." I remembered. "He could be an immortal brother for the Hermes' kids."

Grover nodded. "The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told us. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesus heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."

"And you want to be a searcher." Nathan stated.

"It's my life's dream." he said. "My father was a searcher. And my uncle Ferdinand... The statue you saw back there-"

"Oh, right, sorry."

Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risk. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."

"What did you mean first?" I asked.

Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."

"Not once in two thousand years?" Nathan asked.

"No."

"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"

"Nope."

"But you still want to go," Nathan said, amazed, "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"

"I have to believe that, Nathan. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the worlds. I have to believe Pan can still be awaken."

There was a moment of silence. I understand why Grover could pursue a dream that seems so hopeless. When you live a life where you only see despair or hatred, it helps to have something worth living for.

Huh, I can't believe a quest can wise me up a little.

"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" Nate asked. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"

"Hard to say," I said. "If it was fall or winter, I say we might have a chance to negotiate at least if Persephone was there since she's the only one known to calm the Lord of the Dead. But since it's summer, Persephone should be spending her free time with her mother, Demeter."

"Oh, goody." Nate said.

"Maybe so—but back at Medusa's, when you two were stocking up on her food supply for the trip, Annabeth was telling me—"

"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan figured out. Like having me get beaten by Clarisse and four of her siblings while she let Luke get the flag."

"For the last time, Nathan, that wasn't Annabeth's fault." I said. "I was supposed to assist you in case you were outnumbered and out-matched."

"Percy's right, Nate. Besides, at least Percy saved you, right?" Grover said. "Don't be so hard on her. Besides, she had a tough life, but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me..." his voice faltered.

"What do you mean?" Nate asked. "Forgave you for what?"

Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes.

"Wait a minute," Nathan asked. "Your first Keeper Job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp for five years. She wasn't... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong-"

"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he's started crying if Nathan pressed him. "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest."

"Yeah, I noticed it too." I responded. "Maybe it has to do with the warning I got in my last dream, but- I don't know, this whole quest seems wrong."

"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunderbolt that Hades took."

"That's not what I meant." Grover said. "The Fur- The Kindly Ones we fought seem to be holding back. Like Mrs. Doods at Yancy Academy... Why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't aggressive as they could've been."

"They seemed plenty of aggressive to me."

"I've been wondering about Mrs. Doods myself since we started suspecting Hades," I said. " She kept asking Nathan _Where is it?_ Like they were looking for something. If she really was after Nate, why would she asked that when he was standing there?"

"Maybe we misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt…" Grover stopped.

"Well, after the bus incident, I do agree that Hades is somehow involved with this quest, but I don't think it's as simple as Hades taking the bolt," I responded.

There was a moment of silence before Nathan broke it. "I haven't been straight with you guys," he said. "I don't care about the Master Bolt. I agree to go to the Underworld so I could bring back my mother."

"Not a big surprise." I responded.

"You knew?" Nate asked.

"It doesn't take a genius to know what you're up to, Nate," I said. "However, if the Bolt is in the Underworld, then I'm going to make sure you get out of there with the Bolt as well."

"Why?" Nathan asked. "I mean, your mother ignored you for almost twelve years of your life, right?"

I glared at him, before I smack the back of his head.

"Nathan, that's not the nicest thing you ever said." Grover muttered. "Besides, I remembered that I once saw Nemesis around Yancy back then."

"What?" I asked, completely astonished. "When?"

"I believe when you were in third grade, Perce. And probably three years before Nathan got transferred to Yancy." Grover responded. "I was sent to search for any potential demigods-which would be you- and I saw her, among mortal parents during the first day of school. You remembered that, Percy? It was also the day when Nancy Bobofit got transferred to our class. And the day when 'The Eraser Incident' happened."

I remembered that correctly. I was the only kid without parents to bid me a goodbye back then. Nancy mocked me when she found out that I have no parents. It was then, when the class's equipment began to attack her. We called it 'The Eraser Incident' since Nancy got beaten up by a couple of flying blackboard erasers.

"That incident... Was created by my mom?" I asked.

Grover nodded, he then turned to Nate. "Nate, Poseidon also didn't ignore you as well. He sent a couple of cyclopes to watch over you. You remember seeing one of them, right?"

Nathan looked surprised, before he nodded in agreement.

"True, I once saw a cyclops when I was in kindergarten. And he did seems harmless."

We didn't talk more after that.

"Let's get some sleep guys." Grover said. "We got a long journey tomorrow."

No one argued as we got ourselves comfortable as we could for some sleep.

* * *

In my dreams, I stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit. Gray mist creatures churned all around me, whispering rags of smoke that I somehow knew were the spirits of the dead.

They tugged at my clothes, trying to pull me back, but I felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the chasm.

Looking down made me dizzy.

The pit yawned so wide and was so completely black, I knew it must be bottomless. Yet I had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something huge and evil.

 _The little hero,_ an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. _Too young, but powerful. Perhaps you will do._

The voice felt ancient-cold and heavy. It wrapped around me like sheets of lead.

 _They have misled you, boy,_ it said. _Barter with me. I will give you what you want._

A memory rudely shoved into my head. Memory of the day my dad died by Zeus' thunderbolt. It keeps playing in my mind over and over, with details that enough to make me sick. I could literally smelled the burning scents. It was horrible.

I tried to cry out, but my voice wouldn't work.

Cold laughter echoed from the chasm.

An invisible force pulled me forward. It would drag me into the pit unless I stood firm.

 _Help me rise, boy._ The voice became hungrier. _Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!_

The spirits of the dead whispered around me, _No! Wake!_

Then, from the darkest corner among the spirits, a male form materialized among them. I couldn't put a finger of what his face looked like, it was like his face was made with pure shadows, just like the Greek themed robe he was wearing.

 _He's weaker than you, grandson. Don't listen to him._

The image of my father's death began to fade. The thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around me.

I realized it wasn't interested in pulling me in. It was using me to pull itself out.

 _Wake!_ the dead whispered. _Wake!_

Someone was shaking me.

My eyes opened, and it was daylight.

* * *

"Hey, Percy! Are you planning to sleep all day?" a voice yelled to me.

I looked besides me to see that all of my friends were awake and it was Annabeth who called me. I got up and went to them.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed me a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."

Grover had a poodle that was so pink, I found it to be unnatural.

The poodle yapped at me. Grover said, "It's complicated."

"What's its name?" I asked, knowing how Grover, like all Satyrs, could talk to all wild creatures because of their lord, Pan.

Nathan shot me a ' _What the heck'_ look _._ I guessed Nate just realize Grover could talk to animals and was getting used to it.

"His name is Gladiola." Grover replied.

"Hey Gladiola, my name is Percy Jackson." I responded.

Nathan shot me a look that said, _'Seriously'._

Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Nate asked.

"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."

"Of course," he said. "Silly me."

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

"Not another bus I hope." I said.

"No." Annabeth agreed.

She pointed downhill, toward train tracks I hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west-bound train leaves at noon."

"Then we better pack up," I said.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	14. Nathan Plunge to His Death

**Chapter 13: Nathan Plunge to His Death and Become a Fugitive**

Good thing that one of the things I packed was a couple of books from the Camp and Annabeth was there. I did Annabeth a lot of good since her book on architects was on the bus and. Only Nate wasn't so keen about reading, so he was the only one stir crazy.

We ended up only getting tickets as far as Denver-Colorado, so we can save whatever cash we have left, and didn't get any sleeper car to save cash which was a good thing too, because while we were at the train station, Nathan and I found a picture of Nate, splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspaper. The Trenton Register News showed that the photo was taken by one of the tourist as we got off the Greyhound bus. It doesn't show Nathan clearly -because of the golden blond man accidentally covered the camera- but it doesn't take a genius to figure it that was Nate on the corner of the picture-although it slightly blurred out.

It had wild looks in Nate's eyes. And his sword was a metallic blur in his hands. The picture's caption read:

 _Twelve-year-old Nathan Dorian, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Dorian fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with three teenage accomplices. His family's neighbor, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture._

"How is it the Kindly Ones attack Nate, and he's the criminal?" I asked.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told us. "Mortal police could never find us." But even she didn't sound so sure.

On the first day of the trip, Annabeth and Nathan were asleep while Grover and I decided to buy time by playing cards, instead of gambling whatever money we had left, I offered a ripped purple cloth from my shirt-tied into a headband- as a temporary laurel for the winner of each game. I actually recommend it so Grover wouldn't practice his reed pipes.

Once during our card game, I spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch. The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught my eye and waved. I looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines.

Another time, toward evening, I saw something huge moving through the woods. I could've sworn it was a Nemean lion, due to its huge size of a Hummer. Its fur glinted gold in the evening light, and then it leaped through the trees and was gone.

Sometime during our game, Annabeth, who was sitting next to me, laid her head on me.

"I think Annabeth is warming up to you, Percy." Grover said.

"Really? I thought I ruin any possible chance of a friendship when I suggested changing Annabeth's plan to Nate's liking." I said. "Or blaming both her and Nathan for falling for the greasy fried food smell trap in Medusa's lair."

Grover laughed a little. "Believe me Percy, all you did was hurt Annabeth's pride a little. If she was really mad about something like that, you would know."

"Do I want to know what you mean by that?" I asked.

"It's best you find out yourself, or I hope you don't." Grover said.

I nodded, until I remembered something about a satyr that was assigned to protect a Daughter of Zeus, Thalia. "Grover? You are the satyr that was assigned to protect Thalia, wasn't it?"

Grover looked surprised at first, but he nodded, sadly. "Yes, I am that satyr..."

"Nathan mentioned something about that was your first Keeper Job five years ago." I said. "Annabeth. Was she one of the demigods Thalia made friends with?"

"Luke too." Grover replied.

I nodded again. "What was Thalia like?"

Grover folded his cards and seems struggling with finding the words. I had a feeling that it was a taboo for him.

"Thalia, well, I guess the best word to describe her was fierce," Grover said. "She was a fierce fighter, and her main weapon was a spear and aegis shield. She was especially fierce protecting those she cared about and valued everyone's friendship. She would fight with everything she have. She was strong for everyone, not just herself."

"Doesn't sounds like any typical child of Zeus." I responded. "I read that they were mostly arrogant and prideful like their father. Except my namesake, Perseus."

Grover nodded. "She was. I mean, she's pretty much raised Annabeth for a good six months before I found them. She was a big sister to Annabeth and she always had a special place for Annabeth in her heart."

"She was the best," whispered a voice making both of us look over to see Annabeth with her eyes both open but her head still against my shoulder. "I still miss her."

"That's good that you miss her," I said. "If you miss someone, then it means you truly cared about them."

"Really?" she asked, straightening herself up as me. "What about you? Is there anyone you lost who you miss?"

Grover suddenly acted like he wasn't listening since he already knew the answer from our conversation the other night. It doesn't take a satyr to know that I truly miss my dad.

I nodded. "My father. He's the only one I missed a lot. When he was alive, he cared to me a lot. He reads book for me, taught me how to ride a bicycle and helping me doing my homeworks, and he always there when I'm feeling down. "

Annabeth just stared at me. "Your father sounded like a really good man. No wonder Nemesis was attracted to him."

"Yeah..."

Her gray eyes fixed on me. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound. "My dad on the _other hand_ , resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she said. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."

I was stunned.

"I appeared on my father's doorstep -just like you and any other demigods with godly mothers, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five, he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist."

I don't know how to make Annabeth feels better after hearing her story. All I can do is just patted on her back. "I'm sorry to hear that..."

Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It occurred to me that the ring must be her father's. I wondered why she wore it if she hated him so much.

"He doesn't care about me," she said. "His wife-my stepmom-treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened-you know, something with monsters-they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."

"How old were you?"

"Same age as when I started camp. Seven."

"You're so young back then. It's good thing that you've met Thalia and Luke during that day." I said.

"Yeah, I don't know what it's going to happen to me if I never meet them..." She said, wistfully.

There was a moment of silence before Annabeth asked. "You want to see a picture of Thalia?"

I was a little surprised as Annabeth sat up a little before digging her hand into her pocket. In her hand was an old photo that looked like it had seen better days and had a few tears on the side and was a bit crumpled.

"I always keep this with me. Sort of like a keepsake, I guess." she said as she handed it to me.

I scanned the picture and saw what I guess was a seven year old Annabeth. Next to her I recognized as Luke with his elfish features and was actually happy. The biggest difference was he didn't have a scar, so I guess Luke got it after this photo was taken.

Then I saw the girl next to them. She had a shoulder length hair that spiked at the end, electric blue eyes, and freckles across her nose and under her eyes. She was wearing a combination of punk and goth clothes. She was smiling while her gaze had drifted to Annabeth who looked like she was keeping close to her.

"Thanks," I responded as I handed it back to her.

"She would have liked you. She always liked strong people who had kind hearts," Annabeth said. "And considering you're willing to befriend both me and Nathan, despite of Athena's and Poseidon's rivalry, you must have both."

I chuckled. "Well, I am after all the Son of Balance. I'm balancing stuff and all that. And I have to be the neutral side too, just in case if both of you decided to destroy each other again."

I looked at sleeping Nathan and held back my laughter. "You're right! Nate really does drool in his sleep."

"He is the son of the sea god, so it make sense," she said.

The three of us laughed along with the whole cabin which woke up Nathan and stared at us in confusion.

"What?" he asked subconsciously wiping the drool off his face making us all snicker a little before our stomachs growled a little.

"I better get us something to eat." I said, before I headed toward the dining cart.

* * *

Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to me like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city.

"I want to do that," she sighed.

"What?" I asked.

"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?"

"Only in pictures."

"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."

I laughed. "You? An architect?"

I don't know why, but I found it funny. Just the idea of Annabeth trying to sit quietly and draw all day.

Her cheeks flushed. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention." She said, as she turned to a very flushed Nathan, who happens to overheard our conversation.

He just watched the churning brown water of the Mississippi below.

"Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."

"Can't we work together a little?" Nathan pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"

Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess ... the chariot," she said tentatively.

"My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."

"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"

We rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel.

"I suppose," she said at last.

We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver.

Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."

"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing."

"Sightseeing?"

"The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"

Grover, Nate, and I exchanged looks. We didn't plan for this, but it was hard to argue with Annabeth, and we weren't going to let her go alone.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt." Nate said.

"As long as we look out for monsters." I reminded them.

"And as long as there's a snack bar." Grover stated.

* * *

The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day, the lines to get in weren't that long, but Nate, Grover, and I still had to threaded our way through the museum while listening to Annabeth talk about how the arch was built. Grover and I had to bribe Nate with blue jelly beans every now and then when Annabeth wasn't looking just to make sure he listen to everything she said.

"You smell anything?" Nathan asked Grover quietly.

Grover took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag, long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."

I understand why Nathan asked. I had a strong sense of danger from the tunnel. I kept looking for the monsters, but couldn't find anything.

Gods, I hope is not from that Mist.

"Guys," Nate said. "You know the gods' symbol of power?"

Annabeth was in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the arch, but looked over. "Yeah?"

"Well, Hade-"

Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place... You mean, our friend downstairs."

"Um, right," Nathan said. "Our friend _way_ downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"

"You mean the Helm of Darkness?" Annabeth said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice meeting. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true."

"It allows him to become darkness," Grover replied, "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?"

"But then… how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" Nathan asked.

Annabeth and Grover exchange looks.

"We don't." Grover said.

"Am I the only one who finds it odd that we can't go blabbing off certain names, and yet we can name off any symbol of power for the world to hear like it's no big deal?" I asked. "I mean; you guys just went through a whole conversation about the helm of darkness as if it's not as threatening as our friend way downstairs name despite all of it's powers."

Annabeth looked like she was musing about my statement. "True, but that is because the name of symbols of power are still consider weaker than the gods' names. If its as powerful as the gods' names, Zeus' Master Bolt would never get stolen on the first place."

Nathan groaned when he saw the tiny little elevator car to the top of the Arch. If there was one thing he hate, it was a confined spaces.

We got shoehorned into the car and took a long trip up.

Finally, we reached the observation deck, which Nate described it as a tin can with carpeting silently to me. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was good, but Nathan was bothered by the fact he was in confined space six hundred feet in the air.

Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she could've made the windows bigger, and designed a see through floor.

I noticed that the arch was built next to the river. If the arch was built over source of a body of water while keeping the underground entrance, I bet it would make a good symbol to the Big Three.

"No parents?" I heard someone asked.

I turned to a big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. Strangely, the dog smelled like brimstone.

"They're below." I told her. " Scared of heights."

"Oh, poor darling."

The Chihuahua growled, mostly at Nathan who was waiting impatiently nearby to get out of there. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave."

I said, "Sonny. Is that his name?"

"No," the lady told me.

She smiled, as if that cleared everything up.

I steered Grover, Nathan and Annabeth toward the exit, into the elevator, and Nathan was about to get in himself when we realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for him.

The park ranger said, "Next car, sir."

"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."

But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so I said, "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom." And was about to step out from the elevator, until Nate stopped me.

"Don't worry Percy. I will wait the next elevator." He smiled.

Grover, Annabeth, and I looked nervous as we let the elevator door slide shut. Our car took us to the ground level.

Now the only people left on that observation deck were Nathan, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua-which I believed to be the monsters that Grover sensed.

* * *

As we finally reached the ground and exited the Arch, Annabeth turned to me. "Percy? Did you see that fat lady?"

I nodded. "Yes, I believe she's our monster for today."

Annabeth frowned. "I have a bad feeling that Nathan is about to face-"

Before she could finish her sentence however, we heard an explosion emitted from the observation deck.

She gulped as she recognized the silhouette of the monster on the deck. "That's not just an ordinary monster, that's Echidna! The Mother of Monsters!"

Then we spotted a giant lion looking creature passed through the crashed wall of the deck.

I paled at the sight as I quickly recognized which monster is that. "Please tell me, that's not Chimera..."

Both Annabeth and Grover looked to me and nodded, shakily.

Finally we saw a familiar figure coming near to hole. It was Nathan and he looked like he was heavily injured.

"That's Nate!" Grover yelled. "Quick! We have to help him!"

And before both Annabeth and I could unsheathe our weapons, we heard gasps coming from nearby group of tourists and we saw what they were surprised about.

Nathan, with his clothes on fire, plummeted toward the river.

* * *

I understand that Nate could heal himself with water, but jumped few feet to the river like that? That's insane.

We waited at the river side as Nathan seem to finally came out of the riverside.

"Anything yet?" Annabeth asked.

"Grover shook his head. "Not yet. He has been in there for a few minutes."

"He's probably unconscious in the water. You know, jumping from that kind of height could shock him." I explained as Annabeth nodding at my conclusion.

Just then, Nate surfaced and began walking out of the water completely dry. Annabeth and Grover greeted him with a hug and I gave him a high five.

"Gangway!" We heard a cop yelled.

The crowd near them parted as a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a the mother from the arch. She was saying. "And then this huge dog, this hug fire breathing Chihuahua—"

"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."

"I'm not crazy! A boy destroyed the monster and flew out of the hole!"

At this point, we disappeared in the crowd. We passed some reporters that was doing a breaking news. "Nathan Dorian. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy might took part in this explosion fits the description of the young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. _And_ this boy and three more accomplices are believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo."

We quickly got out of there. It wasn't until we were back to the Amtrak station, Nathan told us about some strange underwater lady and her message.

"Whoa," said Grover. "We've got to get you Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad."

"At least we made it to the Amtrak," I said.

We got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind us.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Why this fanfic doesn't get any more review? You know what, never mind that.**


	15. The Terrible Excuse of a Hero

**Chapter 14:** **The Terrible Excuse of a Hero**

The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

"I thought we can't use phones." Nate said.

"I'm not talking about phones." Annabeth responded.

We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though Nate wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at Nathan, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.

Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were four adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.

"What exactly are we doing?" Nathan asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.

"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."

Nathan and I fished out our change, which combine had five quarters, six nickels, and a dime- how it could end up in my pocket? I still had my backpack despite all the battles we went through and the change I did have was actually what I saved from my portion of the reward money.

"Percy, how is it you have more change than the rest of us when you're supposed to be broke?" Nathan asked.

I shrugged. "I tried to save what I got."

Grover took one of my quarters. "Excellent." he said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good and my arm gets tired of pumping."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

Grover fed the quarter and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."

"Instant messaging?" Nate asked.

" _Iris_ -messaging," Annabeth corrected.

"Iris- as in the goddess of rainbows?" I guessed.

Annabeth nodded, "She also carries messages for the gods, sort of like Hermes, but Iris' way is more face-to-face with who you want to deliver the message to," Annabeth replied.

"Face to face?" Me and Nathan asked.

"The point is, if you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods," Annabeth stated.

"You're going to summon the goddess with a spray gun?" Nate asked.

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."

Sure enough, late afternoon light flickered through the vapor and broke into colors.

Annabeth held her palm out to me. "Drachma, please."

I pulled off my backpack and dug through it until I pulled out one of the drachmas I got from the camp and handed it to Annabeth.

She raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering."

She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.

"Half-Blood Hill." Annabeth requested.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the railing was a sandy- haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.

"Luke!" I called.

He turned, eyes wide. I could swear he was standing three feet in front of me through a screen of mist, except I could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.

"Percy! Nate!" His scared face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

"We're… uh… fine," Annabeth stammered as she started trying to straightening her dirty T-shirt and comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought—Chiron—I mean—"

"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"

"I'm right here," Grover called. He struggled in order to position of the hose so he appeared.

"Maybe I should, Grover." I offered.

"I got it."

Just then, a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.

"What's that noise?" Luke yelled.

"I'll take care of it.'" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, come on!

"What?" Grover said. "But-"

"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.

Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi, then he handed me the spray gun and followed Annabeth.

I readjusted the hose so me and Nate could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke.

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted to both of us over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Nate. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how-probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."

Nate shuddered. Probably thinking about having Ares cabin sided with him. In the next stall, we heard Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other, then the music's volume decreased drastically.

"So what's your status?" Luke asked us. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."

We told him pretty much everything, but I left out about my dreams. Nathan was happy to see him, to feel like he was back at camp even for a few minutes, that we didn't realize how long we had talked until the beeper went off on the spray machine, and we realized we only had one more minute before the water shut off.

"I wish I could be there," Luke told us. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen ... it had to be Hades who took the master bolt. He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."

I want to argue with Luke about how wrong that theory was, but decided to keep my mouth shut as Nate continued talking with Luke.

"But Chiron said the gods can't take each others magic items directly."

"That's true," Luke said, looking troubled. "Still ... Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invisible."

We were both silent, until Luke seemed to realize what he'd said.

"Oh, hey," he protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never ... I mean, she's like a little sister to me."

I wondered if Annabeth would like that description. In the stall next to us, the music stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.

"You'd better go see what that was," Luke said. "Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."

"Oh ... uh, yeah!" Nate tried not to sound like a guilty liar. "Yeah, they've come in handy."

Actually, that's not a lie either. The winged shoes does proved to be useful. On Grover.

"Really?" He grinned. "They fit and everything?"

The water shut off. The mist started to evaporate.

"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver," Luke called, his voice getting fainter. "And tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just-"

But the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing. Nate and I were alone in a wet, empty car wash stall.

Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw Nathan's face. Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, Nate? What did Luke say?"

"Not much," he said. "Come on, let's find some dinner."

* * *

A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around us, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"

"We, um, want to order dinner," Nathan said.

"You kids have money to pay for it?"

Grover's lower lip quivered. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger and I was eying the menu for food I wish I had my money to pay for.

I was trying to think up a sob story for the waitress when a really brute looking guy suddenly enter the diner.

All the conversation in the diner stopped as almost everyone on the diner looked toward the guy, amazed. I looked toward Annabeth, who only looked like she was annoyed with the presence of that guy, while Grover's mouth gaped. Nathan looked as confused as I was.

The guy looked like a baseball player and pro wrestler combined. He was dressed in a white baseball jacket with the symbol of lion on his back, with sky blue shirt underneath it and white training pants with lightning symbol on the trim of his pants. His ebony-black hair was gelled to the back and his beard looked fashionable enough for movie actor styled facial hair. He has a pair of brilliant electric blue eyes, coppery skin as if he'd spent his entire life on a tanning bed. I would considered him to be cool, but he has an obnoxious amount of pride and arrogance flared from him. The weird thing was, I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before.

As he walked into the diner, a cool breeze with smell of ozone blew through the place. All the people rose to greet him, but the baseball player waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again, disappointed. Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"

The baseball player said, "It's on me." He slid into our booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window. Poor Annabeth, now she looked like a really annoyed pancake squished from the guy's giant size.

He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, raised his eyebrows, and said, "Why are you still here?"

The waitress startled as she immediately went back toward the kitchen.

The baseball player turned to Nate and gave him one of his 'dazzling' smile. "So, you're Uncle Pos' kid, huh?"

Nate nodded, quite unsure of what just happened right now. "Um... Who are you?"

Annabeth gave Nathan a 'seriously?' look. "Nate, this is-"

"S'okay," he said. "I don't mind him not knowing my name, being new demigod and all. But I'll give you a hint: I am the greatest hero of Olympus. You know who I am now, little cousin?"

Than it struck me as I remembered seeing this guy from the books about ancient demigod heroes, because the chapter about him is strangely way longer than the other heroes' as if all of his accomplishment are all important and it's not enough to be put in four pages.

"You're Heracles." I said. "The hero who did the Twelve Labors."

Heracles grinned, his electric blue eyes shone brightly as if indicated that he was happy. "Well then, for a first son of Nemesis, you surely are smarter than you look."

I know that it was a compliment, but why I felt that I want to punch him right on his face?

Nate looked like a kid who finally met his idol. "You are Heracles? The hero who slain the Nemean lion, Hydra, and capturing Cerberus?!"

I was stunned of how Nate could explain some of Heracles' deed without any mistakes.

"Yes kiddo, that's me." Again, he flashed his grin. "I heard you were in town and I got a little proposition for you."

The waitress came back with heaping trays of food-cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes.

Heracles handed her a large amount of tip.

She looked nervously at the amount of cash. "Sir, this is too-"

Heracles glared toward her. "Just take the cash and return back to your counter, or do you want me to throw you to the kitchen by myself?"

The waitress swallowed, then left with the cash.

"You can't do that." I told Heracles. "You can't just threatened people like that."

He just laughed. "Are you kidding? These people are much better than the one I met several thousand years ago, because they are easily scared of my strength. And where are your weapons? As former hero, I suggest that you need one immediately. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."

Nathan and Grover looked excited. "Really? What kind of favor you want us to do?!"

"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my club at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little investigation about the Hydra whereabouts, but I was interrupted and I accidentally left my club behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

"We're not interested," Annabeth said. "We've already got a quest."

Heracles nodded. "I see. I know all about your quest, kids. When that item was stolen, my father sent his best gods out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, Ares, and of course, me. Even though Zeus made me minor god, I'm still his favorite son. That's why he rely on me more than he relied my half-siblings in the Council. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful ..." He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry. "Well ... if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about Uncle Hades."

"You told him Hades stole the bolt?"

Heracles shrugged. "Well, who else want to overthrow my father other than him? It all makes perfect sense, isn't it? Besides, Uncle Hades once mentioned that he would be a better ruler than my father was during the Winter Solstice."

"Thanks," I said.

"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

"We're doing fine on our own." Annabeth said.

"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know." He then motioned toward Nathan. "Something about his mom."

"My mom?" Nate asked.

He grinned. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."

"I don't think Hydra would fit in the Tunnel of Love..." I murmured.

Heracles glared at me for a second before he grins again. "At least you kids are lucky to meet me. The greatest hero of Olympus nonetheless! You should be grateful that I'm willingly to help you on your quest. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."

And with that, Heracles disappeared without any trace, like he was never there on the first place. Nathan looked less excited now, more thoughtful. He's probably thinking about what Heracles said earlier.

I looked down at my cheeseburger, which suddenly didn't seem so appetizing. "Why does he need us?"

"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Heracles has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."

"But, I thought he solved his other Labor without his strength?" I asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "He got help. Unfortunately, those who helped him never got recorded in the history."

* * *

The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.

The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry water-slides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.

"Now I'm beginning to wonder if Heracles was lying to us or not." I said.

"Percy." Annabeth said. "I know this whole task seems to be suspicious, but we really do need a transportation to west."

"Yeah," Nathan continued. "Besides, why do you hate Heracles? He's like the most famous hero on every Greek history book!"

I frowned. "I'm not hating him. It just that he has an aura of arrogance in him and its amount are quite unnerving."

Nate looked to me, confused. "But he doesn't sound that arrogant to me. In fact, he's quite humbling. Asking us, demigods to help him."

"I believe you, Percy." Annabeth said.

"Huh?"

"Think about it, Nate. Nemesis is the Goddess of Proportion, who hates those with too much luck and dwelling with hubris." She explained. "It is make sense for Percy to detect certain amount of pride in everyone like that. Personally, I found what Heracles ask to us is quite suspicious. What is he doing in that Tunnel of Love? And what is in there that interrupted Heracles?"

"Oh." Nathan suddenly change the subject. "So how do we get in?"

"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings.

He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, and then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"

Annabeth nodded to me. I began to concentrate on the barbed wire then hurled down the wire to the air. It landed on one of the park's statues.

"Good job, Percy." Annabeth said.

The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?

No monsters came to get us. Nothing made the slightest noise.

We found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of-

"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."

"Yeah," I said. "But you can't just-"

"Watch me."

She snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.

"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, all four of us were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park. The colors and sizes were totally unbalanced with each other, which I'm sure that will give my mom an entire year of headache.

We continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. I got the feeling that the whole park was holding its breath. What I found it to be strange is the fact that the machinery in this Tunnel is far more advance than the regular Tunnel of Love.

What kind of Tunnel of Love is this?

In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.

Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!

Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."

Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seat boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat was Heracles' club, big and mighty wooden weapon with yellowish aura surrounds it.

"This is too easy," Nathan said. "So we just walk down there and get it?"

Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.

"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder ..."

"Grover," I said, "you smell any monsters?"

He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."

"Nothing-like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"

Grover looked hurt. "I told you that was underground."

"Okay, I'm sorry." I took a deep breath.

"I'm going down there." Nathan said.

"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, but I got the feeling he was trying to make up for what had happened in St. Louis.

"No," Nate told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. Percy said that you're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong." He then turned to me. "Perce, you wouldn't mind staying with Grover, right?"

"I nodded. "Sure, I could just hurl you away as soon as you endanger yourself."

Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"

"I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me-" Nate said.

"Are you kidding?" She looked at him as if he just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red.

"What's the problem now?" he demanded.

"Me, go with you to the ... the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?"

"Who's going to see you?" Nathan said, while his cheeks are visibly red now.

Awkward…

"Fine," Nate told her. "I'll do it myself." But when he started to going down to the side of the pool, she followed him, muttering about how boys always messed things up.

Grover and I looked to each other. "Since when we became the third wheel?"

Everything went fine as they reached the boat. And that's when everything gone wrong. The moment Nate touched the club, I knew they were in trouble. His hand broke through something that had been connecting it to the dashboard. A trip wire.

"Wait," Annabeth said.

"Too late."

"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."

Noise erupted all around us, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.

Grover yelled, "Guys!"

Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before Annabeth could suggest taking cover, they shot, but not at Annabeth and Nate. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.

"We have to get out," Nate said.

"Duh!" Annabeth said.

He grabbed the club and they ran, but going up the slope of the pool doesn't look as easy as going down.

"Come on!" I shouted.

Grover and I trying to hold open a section of the net for them, but wherever we touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around our hands.

The Cupids' mouth popped open. Out came speakers and a loudspeaker voice boomed: _"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! YOU HAVE SIXTY SECONDS TO LEAVE HEPHAESTUS FORGE BEFORE THESE MACHINE BEGIN TO EXTERMINATE YOU! FIFTY- NINE SECONDS, FIFTY-EIGHT…"_

"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid.' Eta is H'. We're not in an ordinary Tunnel of Love! We're in one of his Forge!"

"What?! Why Hephaestus would built his forge below the Tunnel of Love?!" Nate shouted.

"Guys!" I shouted. "Don't just stand there! Run now!"

They almost made it to the rim when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic robot poured out.

Annabeth screamed.

It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, and little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward them in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.

"Spiders!" Annabeth said. "Sp-sp-aaaah!"

I'd never seen her like this before. She fell backward in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before Nate pulled her up and dragged her back toward the boat.

"Percy!" Grover shouted, while flying above me. "Hold my leg! I'm going to fly toward Annabeth and Nate."

I nodded and grabbed his goat leg and we fly toward our friends.

The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie both Nate and Annabeth down. The strands looked easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. Nate kicked one away from Annabeth's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of his new surf shoe.

Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, while I holding in one of his leg and trying to pull the net loose with my telekinesis, but it wouldn't budge.

The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. We could use it as an exit, except that it was blocked by a million robot spiders.

 _"FIFTEEN, FOURTEEN,"_ the loudspeaker called.

Water, I thought. Where does the ride's water come from?

Then I saw them: huge water pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from. And up above the net, next to one of the Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the controller's station.

"Grover!" I yelled. "We need to get into that booth! There must be an 'on' switch!"

"But-"

"Do it!" I then turned to Nate. "Nate! Use the water pipes behind the mirrors!"

"I'm on it!" Nate said.

It was a crazy hope, but it was our only chance. The spiders were all over the prow of the boat now. Annabeth was screaming her head off. We had to get out of here.

Grover and I were in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons.

 _"FIVE, FOUR-"_

Grover looked to me hopelessly, raising his hands. He was letting me know that he'd pushed every button, but still nothing was happening.

" _TWO, ONE, ZERO!"_

Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. Nate pulled Annabeth into the seat next to him and fastened her seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into their boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing them completely, but not capsizing them. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.

"Come on, Grover!" I said. "Let's go save them!"

Grover nodded before he yelled: "Maia!"

When we get there, the water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing against the pool's concrete wall with such force, they burst.

Annabeth and Nate held tight, both of them screaming as the boat shot curls and hugged corners and took forty five degree plunges past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff.

Then they were out of the tunnel, the boat barreled straight toward the exit.

If the ride had been in working order, they would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained. Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before them were now piled against the barricade-one submerged, the other cracked in half.

"Grover, quick!" I yelled.

"I'm going as quickly as I can!" he responded while holding my arm to make sure that I don't fall.

Then I saw Nate immediately strapped Heracles' club to his back. Annabeth gripped his hand as the gates got closer. And then, both of them jumped right before they crashed into the gates. Unfortunately, that was a little more than they needed. Their boat smashed into the pileup and they were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and was about to go down toward solid asphalt.

Just before I grabbed Nate from behind.

"Annabeth yelled, "Ouch!"

In midair, I had grabbed Nathan by the shirt while I holding on Grover's arm. Annabeth grabbed Nathan arm, and Grover was trying to pull us out of a crash landing, but Annabeth and Nate had all the momentum.

"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"

We spiraled toward the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall.

We smashed into a photo-board, Grover's head going straight into the hole where tourists would put their faces, pretending to be Noo-Noo the Friendly Whale. Annabeth, Nathan and I tumbled to the ground, banged up but alive. Heracles' club was still on Nate's back.

Once we caught our breath, Annabeth and Nate got Grover out of the photo-board and thanked both of us for saving their lives. I looked back at the Thrill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. The boat had been smashed to pieces against the gates.

I looked toward Nate and realized that he looked angry. He had plenty of experience handling bullies who liked to tease and trick him, so I'm not going to stop him. He hefted the club in his arm and turned to us.

"I don't think I'm going to respect Heracles anymore. We need to have a little talk with that terrible excuse of a hero."


	16. Wild Animals in Vegas

**Chapter 15: Wild Animals in Vegas**

Heracles was waiting for us in the diner parking lot.

"Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."

"You knew it was a trap," Nate said.

Heracles is no longer give us his 'heroic' grin, instead he gave us a wicked grin. "That crippled blacksmith always set up traps all over his workshop. Bet he was surprised when he trapped a couple of stupid kids instead."

"What exactly are you doing in his workshop on the first place?" I asked. "And how do you know?"

Heracles still grinning –I couldn't help but wanting to strangle this guy, god or not. "Let's just say that he refused to help me fixing my armor, so I went to his workshop to thrash it." He then added. "Also, the cripple set up a lots of camera around his workshop. He thinks he could make me look like a fool on his stupid 'Hephaestus TV'."

Nathan shoved his club at him. "You're a jerk."

Heracles grabbed the club and tossed it in the air. It changed form, melting into a metal baseball bat. He strapped it on his back.

"See that truck over there?" He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."

The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, which read: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

I frowned while Annabeth said, "You're kidding."

Heracles snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, kiddo. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."

He snapped his fingers again and a blue nylon backpack suddenly materialized in front of us.

Inside were fresh clothes for all of us, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuff Oreos.

Nate said, "I don't want your lousy-"

"Thank you, Lord Heracles," Grover interrupted, giving Nate his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."

Nathan gritted his teeth as he reluctantly slung the backpack over his shoulder.

I looked at the diner, which had only a couple of customers now. The waitress who'd served us dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Heracles might hurt us. She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of us.

I groaned. With everything at the water-park, I forgot that we were wanted for the bus incident, the Gateway Arch explosion, _and_ the disappearance of Nate's mom. Which reminds me…

"You owe Nathan one more thing," I said. "You promised him information about his mom."

"Are you sure your friend can take it?" Heracles asked.

"Just tell me," Nate said.

Heracles snapped his fingers and a sky blue Cadillac Escalade appeared before him.

"You sure you can handle the news?" He started his car. "She's not dead."

Nate was caught off guard by the news. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."

"Kept. Why?"

"Hostages," I said. "Someone takes somebody important to control who that person is important to or to gain what they really want."

Heracles smirked. "Scale-boy gets it."

"Nobody's controlling me," Nate argued.

Heracles laughed. "Oh really? See you around, kid."

Nate balled up his fists. "You're pretty smug, _Lord_ Heracles, for a guy who runs from mechanical spiders."

Heracles' electric blue eyes glowed. I could smell a strong scent of ozone and electricity around us. "We'll meet again, Nathan Dorian. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."

He revved up his Cadillac, then drove off down Delancy Street.

Annabeth and I crossed our arms at Nate. "That was not smart, Nathan."

"I don't care."

"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god." Annabeth explained. "As much as I hate to confirm it, but Heracles is really Zeus' favorite son. If something happen to him, Zeus would never forgive you even if you return his Master Bolt."

"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but ..."

He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.

"If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said, "we need to hurry."

No one argued as we ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind us.

* * *

The first thing that hit me was the smell. It was like the world's biggest pan of kitty litter.

The trailer was dark inside until Nate uncapped Anaklusmos. The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals I'd ever beheld: a zebra, a male albino lion, and an antelope. Each of them obviously been mistreated.

The food been mismatched as the lion had a sack of turnips and the zebra and antelope each have Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was matted with chewing gum, like somebody had been spitting on it on their spare time. The antelope had a silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read _OVER THE HILL!_

Apparently, nobody had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but the poor thing was pacing around on soiled blankets, in a space way too small for him, panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur.

"This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"

He probably would've gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes, and I would've helped him, but just then the trucks engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and we were forced to sit down or fall down.

Nathan and Annabeth huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies. Grover tried to talk to the animals, but they just stared at him sadly.

"We got to do something." I said. "This is just pathetic."

"We can't free them now," Nate pointed out, "Not with the trailer moving."

"We can at least refill their water bowls," Annabeth said. "And switch out their food."

"I'll take care of the water, Nate you get the food," I said. "Annabeth, see if you can do anything about the balloon. I don't think we can do much for the zebra with the gum while this trailer is shaking, but Grover, you think you can convince it and the others that we'll help them once it's safe?"

"Yeah," Grover said.

We worked together to do just that.

Grover curled up on a turnip sack; Annabeth opened our bag of Double Stuff Oreos and nibbled on one halfheartedly; Nate tried to cheer himself up by concentrating on the fact that we were halfway to Los Angeles. Halfway to our destination. It was only June fourteenth. The solstice wasn't until the twenty-first. We could make it in plenty of time.

I had no idea what to expect next. The gods kept toying with me and Nate. At least Hephaestus had the decency to be honest about it- he'd put up cameras and advertised us as entertainment. But even when the cameras weren't rolling, I had a feeling our quest was being watched. We were a source of amusement for the gods.

"Hey," Annabeth said, "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Nathan."

"That's okay."

"It's just…" She shuddered. "Spiders."

"Really, it's okay," Nate said. "But what's with the fear of spiders anyway? Trauma?"

"It's probably has something to do with Athena." I said. "Because of the story of Arachne. She got turned into a spider for challenging Athena to a weaving contest, right?"

Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you guys."

"We're a team, remember?" Nathan said. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying while Percy did the fancy magic."

I thought Grover was asleep, but he mumbled from the corner, "I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?"

Annabeth, Nathan, and I laughed.

She pulled apart an Oreo, handed Nate a half. "In the Iris message ... did Luke really say nothing?"

Nate munched his cookie while I pulled out another Oreo, offered by Annabeth. "Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."

In the dim bronze light of the sword blade, it was hard to read their expressions. But I know Annabeth probably looked sad while Grover let out a mournful bray.

"I should've told you the truth from the beginning." His voice trembled. "I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."

"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus." Nate said.

"Now you realized it, Nate?" I asked.

"But then…" Nate trailed off. "Grover- were- you"

Grover nodded glumly.

"I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp," he said, sniffling. "Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought… I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker…"

"Stop it," Annabeth said. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."

"She sacrificed herself to save us," he said miserably. "Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so."

"Then don't listen to them." I said. "If it weren't for you, Annabeth wouldn't be here today. Neither would Luke. You can't keep blaming yourself, Grover. I don't know a lot about Thalia, but I bet she wouldn't like it to see you like this."

Grover was silent for a while before I realized he had fallen asleep.

"How does he do that?" Nate asked.

"I don't know," Annabeth, "That was some advice though, Percy."

"Thanks." I said.

We rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip. The lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips and looked at both Nate and me hopefully.

Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts.

"That pine-tree bead," Nate said. "Is that from your first year?"

She looked. She hadn't realized what she was doing.

"Yeah," she said. "Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress-now _that_ was a weird summer..."

"And the college ring is your father's?"

"That's none of your-" She stopped herself. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"You don't have to tell me." Nate said.

I didn't hear the rest of their conversation as I'm beginning to get tired and before I know it, I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

My nightmare started out as something I'd dreamed a million times before: I was on the front seat in the car with dad, who was driving besides me. And then, a lightning bolt struck the road in front of us.

Few minutes later, the dream strayed from the usual. I was back in the dark cavern, spirits of the dead drifting around me. But unlike the previous scene, I wasn't alone. Nathan was there as well, listening to the monstrous voice in the darkness -apparently he already fallen asleep after his conversation with Annabeth. Except, it wasn't talking to Nathan, or me.

 _And they suspects nothing?_ It asked.

A familiar voice answered at our shoulders. _Nothing, my lord. Both of them are as ignorant as the rest._

I looked over my shoulder, but I couldn't see the speaker.

 _Deception upon deception,_ the thing in the pit mused. _Excellent._

 _Truly, my lord,_ said the voice next to me. _You are well-named the Crooked One. But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly-_

 _You?_ The monster said in a scorn. _You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened._

 _But, my lord-_

 _Peace, little servant. Our six months have bought us much. Zeus's anger has grown. Poseidon has played his most desperate card. And Nemesis has suddenly played a part by claiming her son. Now we shall use it against them. Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items are delivered into my hands ... but wait. They're here._

 _What?_ The invisible servant suddenly sounded tense. _You summon both of them, my lord?_

 _No._ The full force of the monster's attention was on both of us. _Blast his father's blood- he is too changeable, too unpredictable. The boy brought himself hither. But the other one- something not right. Damn it to Tartarus! Nyx must have brought her grandson here!_

 _Impossible!_ The servant cried.

 _For a weakling such as you, perhaps,_ the voice snarled. Then its cold power turned back to us. _So you wish to dream of your quest, young half-bloods? Then I will oblige._

The scene changed.

We were standing in a vast throne room with black marble walls and bronze floors. The empty, horrid throne was made from human bones fused together. Standing at the foot of the dais was Agatha Dorian, frozen in shimmering golden light, her arms stretched.

Nathan tried to step forward and I was shocked when his hands were withering to bones. Grinning skeletons in Greek armor crowded around them, draping Nate with silk robes, wreathing his head with laurels that smoked with Chimera poisoned. Other bow to me in fear as if I'm too dangerous than Nathan.

The evil voice began to laugh. _Hail, the conquering hero!_

The voice laughed again, but I could detect some- fear on his tone? _And all hail the true Prince of Paradise!_

* * *

I woke with a start.

Grover was shaking my shoulder, while Nate already woke up before me. "The truck stopped," he said. "We think they're coming to check on the animals."

"Hide!" Annabeth hissed.

She had it easy. She just put on her magic cap and disappeared. Grover, Nathan and I had to dive behind feed sacks and hope we looked like turnips.

The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in.

"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. "I wish I hauled appliances." He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.

"You hot, big boy?" he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face.

The lion roared in indignation.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said.

Next to me, under the turnip sacks, Grover tensed. For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous.

The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of _you_ this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"

The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, and look straight at Nathan, as if talking to him.

I had no clue what it was saying, but judging from Nathan's expression, he might have.

Of course, Poseidon created horses! How could I forget about that?

There was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer.

The trucker inside yelled, "What do you want Eddie?"

A voice outsides shouted back, "Maurice? What'd you say?"

"What are you banging for?"

Knock, knock, knock.

Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?"

The other guy, Maurice, rolled his eyes and went back outside to yell at Eddie for being an idiot.

A second later, Annabeth appeared next to me. She must've done the banging to get Maurice out of the trailer. She said, "This transport business can't be legal."

"No kidding," Grover said. He paused, as if listening. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers! We've got to free them!"

Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other, but I knew they'd be coming inside to torment the animals again any minute. I grabbed Redemption and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage. It took only seconds for animals to be free with Nate slashed the lock off the lion's cage and the antelope's as Grover gave each animal some kind of blessing in goat talk.

Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out the noise, the three animals leaped over him into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. Maurice and Eddie chased after them, only to get chased by policemen while at it. Many tourist screamed or backed off while taking pictures.

"What kind of blessing did you give them?" I asked.

"A satyr's sanctuary," Grover replied. "It basically will protect them, help them find food, water, shade, and whatever they need until they find a safe place to live."

"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" Nate asked.

"It only works on wild animals."

"So it would only affect Nathan." Annabeth reasoned.

"Hey!"

"Kidding." Annabeth said.

I groaned at their behavior. "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck."

We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and we must've looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay us much attention.

We passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made me homesick.

We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers-lotus blossom, maybe. I'd never smelled one, so I wasn't sure.

The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"

I'd learned to be suspicious, the last week or so. I figured anybody might be a monster or a god. You just couldn't tell. But this guy was normal. One look at him, and I could see. Besides, I was so relieved to hear somebody who sounded sympathetic that I nodded and said we'd love to come in. Inside, we took one look around, and Grover said, "Whoa."

The whole lobby was a giant game room. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, it had everything anyone could ask for. There were a few other kinds playing, but not many, so there was no lines for those waiting to play. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food imagined.

"Hey!" a bellhop wearing a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."

"What?" I said. "But we just got here, and we didn't pay for it."

"Oh don't worry," he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed us each a green plastic credit card.

Nate must have thought all of this make no sense, because he asked, "How much is on here?"

His eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when does it run out of cash?"

He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."

The bellhop hop left and I looked suspiciously at the card.

Nathan, Annabeth, and Grover looked at me skeptical but left anyways.

This place is too good to be true. There must be a catch to this place, but what?

I decided to follow my friends and took the elevator upstairs to our room. It was a suite with four separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. I didn't see how that could be legal, but I thought it was pretty cool. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though I doubted we'd ever find time to look at the view with a room like this.

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is ..."

"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet."

There were clothes in the closet, and they fit me. I frowned, thinking that this was a little strange.

Nate threw Heracles' backpack in the trash can. He's probably thinking that he could just charge a new one at the hotel store.

I took a shower, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. I changed clothes, ate a bag of chips, drank three Cokes, and came out feeling better than I had in a long time. In the back of my mind, some small problem kept nagging me. I'd had a dream or something ... like I shouldn't be here and I should leave this place immediately, but I was sure it could wait.

I came out of the bedroom and found that Annabeth, Nathan and Grover had also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart's content, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel.

"All those stations," Nate told her, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"

"It's interesting."

"I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place."

Without his even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again.

"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"

Grover and Nathan looked at each other and grinned. They both held up their green plastic LotusCash cards.

"Play time," Nate said.

And I just shook my head at them. They dragged me with them to the large arcade room. While Nathan were playing some artificial sky slope, Grover playing some reverse hunter game thing, and Annabeth playing trivia game, I take a walk around the hotel and eventually found myself in the Hotel's gift shop, checking out merchandise.

I found a pack of playing cards. "Mythomagic?"

"You play the game?" someone asked.

I turned to see a young boy who must have been ten years old. He had shaggy black hair and had an olive skin tone. His eyes were dark and looked as if they belong to a mad genius, but the boy smiled like he was like a normal child.

"No, is it a good game?" I asked.

"Yeah! It's based off of Greek and Roman Mythology, except it gives the characters attack points hit points each. There's also figurines. I got most of them, except for the really rare one," the boy said, "I'm Nico di Angelo, by the way."

"Perseus Jackson," I said. "Nice to meet you."

Nico's eyes widened at me. "Perseus? Like the one who slain Medusa? Do you know that Perseus' attack point will increased to 500 once his card matched with Medusa's head card?"

I just raised my eyebrows at him.

"NICO DI ANGELO!" a voice shouted through the store, catching both Nico's and my attention. When Nico saw who it was, he paled a little.

Marching over to us was a girl a few years older than Nico, but had very similar features to him. She had long black hair, covered by a green hat and olive skin tone. Based on Nico's reaction, she's probably his sister.

"Nico, I have been looking for you for the past half an hour. You just ran off without telling me," she said in an annoyed tone. Then she turned to me. "Sorry about my brother. My name is Bianca di Angelo."

"Hi, I'm Percy," I greeted.

"I thought your name is Perseus?" Nico asked.

"It is. But, Percy is my nickname." I turned to Bianca. "And don't worry about it. Nico wasn't a problem. He was actually telling me about this Mythomagic game."

Bianca seemed disappointed by it, "Please tell me you're not into that game too."

"Well, no…. this is actually the first time I heard of it," I said. "But it sounds interesting- at least the Greek Mythology part."

"Whatever," Bianca said. "Come on Nico."

Nico reluctantly left with Bianca.

I decided to buy a few packs of the Mythomagic game along with instructions to the game.

After I left the store, I noticed there were a lot more people than I remembered. As keep walking around the hotel, more and more I felt something wrong in here. I saw the sun sets in the west, but it was faster than normally it was. To a normal person, they would regard this as the day going by faster than normal, nothing more. But I knew immediately something was wrong.

"Finally you realize it, kid?" A male voice spoken besides me. I turned and saw a man in red maroon tux, with black shirt underneath it. His black hair was neatly combed and he has a black goatee. What unnerve me is the fact that this man has a pair of yellow eyes-like cats- and if I looked closely to his mouth, he also has a fang.

I gripped Redemption in my pocket. Ready to strike whatever this guy is.

The man must've detected my nervousness as he motioned me to calm down. "Hey, I'm not here to attack you. I'm here to help you."

I still didn't let my guard down. "Why would you want to help me?"

"Because you've been here for five days."

I was stunned. Five days? "You're joking."

The man shook his head. "Do you know why this place is called Lotus Casino? Because this place is actually Lotus Island. The same island from Odyssey."

Suddenly, everything went back to me. Odysseus and his men were trapped in an island filled with lotus-eaters. His men ate the lotus and they no longer want to go back to the ships. Is this happen to Nathan, Grover, and Annabeth as well?

"If this place is really the Lotus Island, why it didn't affect me so much?" I asked, still gripping on Redemption.

The man smiled. "Why indeed? The same reason as to why you don't have dyslexia and ADHD like your demigod friends, Perseus."

"How did you-"

The man looked at his silver wristwatch. "You have not much time left, Perseus. You and your friends must leave now before you fail your first quest and they start World War III, which would be a bad thing for the mortals. And sudden increase of souls to my kingdom, if I wasn't exiled from it."

I couldn't say anything about it. Everything this guy said is correct and make no sense as well. "Who are you?"

He smiled again. "Many names. But you can call Luce."

"Luce?"

He didn't say anything more, but motioned me to go. "Enough with the question. Leave this place now!"

As I run, leaving Luce to find my friend, a realization hit me for a details that I almost missed.

Luce has goat horns.

* * *

I ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when we went in. Then I noticed the date: June twentieth.

Luce was right. We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days. And with that, I ran to find Nate first.

It didn't take long for me to find Nathan, and judging from his expression, he must have realized something was wrong.

"Percy, this place-"

"I know, we've got to get out of here." I said.

"Tell me about it, there's guys here who says they're from 1960s," Nate said.

"I kn- wait, the 1960s?"

"Yeah. Why?"

It now made sense to why there were more people than before.

"We need to get out of here _now_ ," I said. "You go get Annabeth, I'll get Grover."

"What about our stuff?" Nate asked.

As he said that, suddenly Heracles' backpack was slung over his shoulder and my backpack was slung over my back. Which was odd, because I was sure Nate had thrown it in the trash can in room 4001 while I left mine in the room's closet, but at the moment, I had other problems to worry about.

"How did-"Nate was probably going to ask of why the backpacks suddenly return to us, but I cut him off before he finished his sentence.

"Just go already!"

Nathan nodded and rushed off to find Annabeth.

* * *

Again, it didn't take long for me to find Grover. All I had to do was listen for the shouts of, "DIE REDNECKS."

Grover was still playing that deer hunting hunter game.

"Grover!" I shouted, but Grover seemed oblivious.

"Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!"

"GROVER!"

Finally he turned around, pointing the plastic gun at me as if trying to shoot me.

"Come on, we're leaving!" I grabbed Grover's arm as he started shrugging.

"No, just a bit longer. I'm teaching the red necks a lesson they will never forget," Grover declared before he started swinging at me.

"Grover, remember your dream. You can't find Pan if you're in here playing a virtual reality game," I said.

That snapped Grover out of it. He froze and blinked before his eyes widened. "How long have we been here?"

"Five days," I said, decided to not mention my encounter with the man named Luce. "Last I saw it was sunrise, but after what Nathan said, I think we been here longer. Then I checked the newspaper for today's date. Either way, we need to get out of here."

* * *

We found Nate and Annabeth near the entrance. Annabeth looked annoyed that she gave into temptation so easily but I couldn't help but raised my eyebrows when I saw Nate's face being red with some scratch marks.

"Next time, you get Annabeth." Nathan said.

"Why? What happened?" I asked.

Nathan shot a glare at Annabeth. "She decided she didn't wanted to be taken away from her Sims game and decided to claw and slap my face when I tried to move her." He said with annoyance.

Annabeth laughed nervously while scratching the back of her head. "Sorry about that," she said.

Nathan couldn't help but stifle a laugh.

"That was vicious." I said, earning myself a playful slap by Annabeth.

"It's good thing you guys already got our stuff, let's get out of here." Annabeth said.

The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"

"We're leaving," Nathan said.

"Such a shame," he said. "We just added an entire floor of games for platinum-card members."

He tried to give us the cards, but I swatted it away. "Let's go!"

We walked toward the door as fast as we could and didn't stop until we were at the sidewalk.

It felt afternoon, about the same time of the day we'd gone into the casino, but the weather was worse than when I saw the sunrise.

I pulled out the today's newspaper that I decided to keep in my backpack and showed it to my friends. "Guys, it's June twentieth."

"We've been in Lotus Casino for five days?!" Nathan said. "That means…"

"We only have one day until the summer solstice," I said. "One day to complete our quest."

"We need to get a taxi," Annabeth said, " _Now._ "


	17. There's Actually Purple Water Bed?

**Chapter 16: There's Actually Purple Water Bed?**

It was Annabeth's idea.

I thought Annabeth was kidding when she recommended a taxi cab, but she loaded three of us and herself in the back of a taxi as if we actually had money, and told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."

The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized us up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front for that."

"You accept casino debit cards?" Annabeth asked.

He shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through first."

Annabeth handed him her green LotusCash card.

He looked at it skeptically.

"Swipe it," Annabeth invited.

He did.

His meter machine started rattling. Lights flashed. Finally an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign.

The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth. He looked back at the group, eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles… uh, Your Highness?"

"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter. I could tell she liked the "Your Highness" thing as I suddenly felt a little aura of pride flared inside her. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

Maybe she shouldn't have told him that. The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.

* * *

On the road, we had plenty of time to talk. Nate and I told Annabeth and Grover about our latest dream. It turned out, I remembered more from the conversation than Nate -probably because the Lotus Casino's influence have little impact on me- including about nickname. Unfortunately, it lead to an argument over it.

"Are you sure you heard the voice says, the Crooked One," Annabeth said, "Not: The Rich One? Or the Silent One?"

"I'm sure!" I responded. "It was the Crooked One."

"But that throne you described, it sounded like Hades throne," Grover said. "At least, from what I heard."

"Yeah, but that's not the main focus of the dream, the pit was." Nate argued.

Annabeth's eyes widened. "Are you sure you heard the nickname correctly, Percy?"

"Yes! For the last time, it was the Crooked One." I responded.

"Why does it matter anyways?" Nate asked.

"It's… it doesn't matter. Hades _has_ to be behind this."

"Again with Hades." I mumbled.

"It got to be, Percy. He must have sent this thief and something went wrong-"

"Like what?" Nate asked.

"I—I don't know," she said. "But if he stole Zeus' symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong. So this thief hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explained why the Furies were searching for it when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."

"But if I'd already retrieve the bolt," Nate said, "why would I be traveling to the Underworld?"

"To threaten Hades," Grover suggested. "Maybe to bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."

I just stared at Grover. "That's… surprisingly evil for a half goat, Grover."

"Why, thank you."

"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for _two_ items," Nate argued. "If the bolt is the one, what's the other?"

Grover shook his head, clearly mystified. I want to tell to Nathan and Annabeth that the second item is possibly Ares' shield, but I decided not to as I already promised to Clarisse that I would not mention it to anyone.

"It doesn't matter. If it isn't Hades… no. It has to be Hades." Annabeth said.

Nathan nodded, until he seemed to remember something. "Also, the voice gave both of us nicknames. It nicknamed me as 'the conquering hero'."

"Make sense. Most sons of Poseidon are nicknamed as that, because of they tend to win on every war." Annabeth explained.

"… and Percy was nicknamed as 'Prince of Paradise'. What's that mean?"

Annabeth looked stunned for a moment. She glanced to me before back to Nathan. "Paradise? Probably Elysium or maybe Olympus. But Olympus would make very sense if Percy was a Son of Zeus. And I don't think Nemesis has something to do with Elysium."

Wasteland rolled by as the taxi passed a sign that said CALIFORNIA STATE LINE, 12 MILES.

"The answer is in the Underworld," Annabeth said. "You two saw spirits of the dead. There's only one place that could be. We're doing the right thing."

I want to argue, but I had to admit. The answers does seem to be in the Underworld-or at least somewhere in there- but I had doubts it was with Hades. Sure the god was a creep, I will admit that, but pointing fingers at Hades-too easy. But if it wasn't Hades, who was that voice?

* * *

At sunset, the taxi dropped us at the beach in Santa Monica. It looked exactly the way L.A. beaches do in the movies, only it smelled worse. There were carnival rides lining the Pier, palm trees lining the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in the sand dunes, and surfer dudes waiting for the perfect wave.

The four of us walked down to the edge of the surf.

"What now?" Annabeth asked.

At first Nathan just stared at the Pacific, then he step into the surf.

"Nathan?" Annabeth said. "What are you doing?"

Nate didn't reply as he kept walking further into the water.

"You know how polluted that water is? There are all kinds of toxic waste in there!" Annabeth continued but Nate was already under by the time she said toxic.

"I doubt Poseidon will let Nate be harmed by toxic water." I said.

We sat on the sand and waited for Nathan. I opened my backpack and frowned as I forgot to pack some snacks and drinks back at the Lotus Casino.

"Well, I guess we could just buy our snacks and drinks around here…" I murmured.

"It's okay, Percy." Annabeth said.

"I think I saw a Starbucks nearby." Grover said.

"I still have my LotusCash card. Maybe we can use it to get something to eat and drink." I said.

"I would have thought you threw that out by now." Annabeth said.

"I would have, but I could give this to my uncle so he could have enough funds to open his own restaurant like he always dreamed of."

"That's nice of you to do that, Percy." Annabeth said.

I shrugged. "It's the least I can do for him taking care of me for the last five years of my life."

I headed towards the Starbucks, that I could see just a little way off in the distance. I was thinking of putting myself a disguise, but I didn't since Nate was the fugitive, not me. Also, the police still doesn't have any descriptions of me, Annabeth, and Grover.

It only took me a few minutes to get there, but I saw it was a little busy, so I got in line and waited like the others.

I stood there for about five minutes before I noticed that the line was not making any attempt to move at all. I poked my head out just out of the line to see what was happening and what was taking so long. When I saw why, I frowned.

Standing at the front of the line was a woman in a grey work suit with a mobile pressed against her ear. She had sandy blonde hair that was tied into a bun and had brown eyes. The employee in front of her had a look of annoyance as he tried to talk to her, but she kept putting her hand up in front of him, stopping the employee from speaking. It was very rude and very disrespectful.

"Miss, could you please just—"

"Wait one more moment," she said causing everyone to groan as she continued her conversation on the phone.

"Jane, just make an order so we can go already. Dad is waiting at the carnival for us, and I won't miss my time with him." An annoyed voice called out that got my attention.

I stuck my head out the other side of the line and I saw a young girl about a year younger than me, wearing faded blue jeans, purple top and beige jacket. She had a dark skin tone that I guess was native American and her brown hair was cut choppy and braided down the side of her face and she obviously wasn't wearing any makeup, but even I had to admit she was pretty for her age. But what got my attention was that the girl's eyes seemed to change from green to blue to brown like a kaleidoscope. For some reason, her eyes reminded me with the camper's eyes from Aphrodite's cabin.

"Yes, yes, in a moment," the woman known as Jane said, which caused the girl to grumble at the older woman.

"That's enough." I murmured. It was bad enough that I had to wait in this line because of this woman, but she was disrespecting everyone around her.

I step out of the line and walked up to the woman, and poked her on her backside to gain her attention. The woman-along with everyone else- turned to me just as I grabbed her phone. Before she could protest, I hit the cancel call button and flipped it shut.

"What the heck do you think you're doing? Give me my phone back, little boy." She said, angrily.

I pulled out my coldest poker face, just enough to scare the woman enough to step back.

"Ma'am, I suggest you to stop being rude and disrespectful and just make your order. There are a lot of people in here who I have no doubt just want to get their drinks and leave, and you're holding them up. You will get your phone back when you collect whatever you came here for."

Jane looked like she wanted to argue back but then she noticed that all the customers that were waiting were glaring at her while the young girl looked smug. No doubt she like seeing this woman being put in her place.

Jane reluctantly turned around and face the employee who had a smirk on his face as she gave him her order.

I headed back to the line, which had grown, but I wasn't too upset since the customers gave me a pat on the back.

Once I was in the line, I waited for the line to move.

"That was awesome," a voice said to my right. I looked over to see the girl who was with Jane, standing next to me with a big smile on her face.

"Thanks," I said. "To be honest, I was tempted to throw her phone to the trash bin."

The girl giggled. "Either way, you just made my day. I have waited for so long to see someone put her in her place." She said. "My name is Piper."

"I'm Perseus." I replied.

"Is your name Greek? You don't look very much Greek."

"That's because my mom is Greek. I guess I took after my father side, because he's an American." I said. "So I take it that lady is not your mom?"

"Heck no." Piper responded. "She's just my dad's assistant, but I get stuck with her enough times people always think she is. Truth is, I don't know my mom." Piper said the last bit a little bitterly. "She took off after I was born, and left my dad to raise me."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." I said. Could she be a demigod too? I wish Grover was here. Maybe he could tell.

I decided to change topics. "I overheard you saying your dad was waiting for you at the carnival?"

Piper had a big smile. "Yeah, he's there right now and I would be too, if Ms. Annoying over there would hurry up." She said, looking at Jane, scowling. "I don't see him a lot, so every time with him is pretty precious."

I nodded. At that moment, Jane walked up to us with her drink in her hand. She extended her hand out, wanting her phone back. I obliged reluctantly.

"Come on, Piper," Jane said. "We don't want to keep your father waiting."

This made Piper go red in the face. "We wouldn't have to keep him waiting if you would have just hurried up."

Jane ignored the last comment as she headed off. Piper quickly turned to me. "It was nice to meet you, Perseus." She said, before racing off after her father's assistant.

* * *

As soon as Jane left, the line picked up the pace quickly. Fortunately, the LotusCash card still worked even in the state of California and I returned to the beach with a cup holder. Containing one cappuccino and three fruit smoothies.

When I got back to the beach, Nathan was already out of the water and was snacking on the snacks Annabeth bought on the snack stand on the beach and they were waiting for me.

"What took you so long?" Annabeth asked, annoyed.

"Some lady would not get off her phone and held up the line." I explained.

"I hate when that happens," Grover said as Nathan nodded.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes. "Boys."

I handed the caffeinated drink to Grover and two of the fruit smoothies to Annabeth and Nathan before drinking my own. Since I wasn't certain that if Piper was a demigod or not, I decided not to tell them about my run in with her.

"So, Nate, what did your dad give you?" I asked.

Nathan dug into his pocket and took out four milky white pearls.

"My dad wasn't there, just a messenger. She said these will come in handy later on in the quest and that eventually everything returns to the sea. What does mean?"

"There will be a price. Just you wait." Annabeth said.

"So, where to next?" Grover asked.

Nathan put the pearls back into his pocket and took out a return slip.

"I swiped this from Medusa's lair." He said, handing it to us. "It says the D.O.A. recording studios. I thought she might have done business with Hades."

"You're right," Annabeth responded. "Hades had some of Medusa's victim delivered to the Underworld to be used as decorative for his wife's garden."

"That would explain why Medusa's lair took form of a business." I said. "Well, we better find this place.

No one argued.

* * *

With some spare change from Heracles' backpack, we took the bus into West Hollywood. Nathan showed the driver the Underworld address slip, but he'd never heard of D.O.A. Recording Studios.

"You remind me of somebody I saw on TV," he told Nate. "You are a child actor or something?"

"Uh… I'm a stunt double… for a lot of child actors."

"Oh! That explains it."

We thanked him and got off quickly at the next stop.

We wandered for miles on foot, looking for DOA. Nobody seemed to know where it was. It didn't appear in the phone book.

Twice, we ducked into alleys to avoid cop cars.

Nathan once froze in front of an appliance store window because a television was showing a talkshow about him. The show shown the last known photo of us, standing outside the Colorado diner, talking to Heracles.

"Who are the other children in this photo?" Barbara Walters asked dramatically. "Who is the man with them? Is Nathan Dorian a delinquent, a terrorist, or perhaps the brainwashed victim of a frightening new cult? When we come back, we chat with a leading child psychologist. Stay tuned, America."

"C'mon," Grover told Nate.

It got dark, and hungry-looking characters started coming out on the streets to play. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a New Yorker. I don't scare easy. But L.A. had a totally different feel from New York. Back home, everything seemed close. It didn't matter how big the city was, you could get anywhere without getting lost. The street pattern and the subway made sense. There was a system to how things worked. A kid could be safe as long as he wasn't stupid.

L.A. wasn't like that. It was spread out, chaotic, hard to move around. It wasn't enough for L.A. to be big; it had to prove it was big by being loud and strange and difficult to navigate, too. I didn't know how we were ever going to find the entrance to the Underworld by tomorrow, the summer solstice.

We walked past gangbangers, bums, and street hawkers, who looked at us like they were trying to figure if we were worth the trouble of mugging.

As we hurried passed the entrance of an alley, a voice from the darkness said, "Hey, you."

Like an idiot, Nate stopped.

Before we knew it, we were surrounded. A gang of kids had circled us. Six of them in all-white kids with expensive clothes and mean faces. Like the kids at Yancy Academy: rich brats playing at being bad boys.

I knew that my weapon won't work on mortals, but it might distract them. So I uncapped Redemption. When the sword appeared out of nowhere, the kids backed off, but their leader was either really stupid or really brave, because he kept coming at me with a switchblade.

I swing my sword right at the gang leader's face. The guy yelped as my sword pass right through him like he was an illusion.

"Now, run!" I yelled to my friends.

We ran out of there, raced down the street and turned a corner.

"There!" Annabeth yelled.

Only one store on the block looked open, its window glaring neon. The sign above the door was hard for Nathan and Annabeth to read, but Grover and I translate: "Crusty's Water Bed Palace."

It didn't sound like a place I'd ever go except in an emergency, but this definitely qualified. We burst through the doors, ran behind a water bed, and ducked. A split second later, the gang kids ran past outside.

"I think we lost them," Grover panted.

A voice boomed behind us. "Lost who?"

We all jumped.

Standing behind us was a guy who looked like a raptor in a leisure suit. He was at least seven feet tall, with absolutely no hair. He had gray, leathery skin, thick-lidded eyes, and a cold, reptilian smile. He moved toward us slowly, but I got the feeling he could move fast if he needed to.

His suit might've come from the Lotus Casino. It belonged back in the seventies, big time. The shirt was silk paisley, unbuttoned halfway down his hairless chest. The lapels on his velvet jacket were as wide as landing strips. The silver chains around his neck-I couldn't even count them.

"I'm Crusty," he said, with a tartar-yellow smile.

Nathan coughed as he resisted the urge to snicker.

"Sorry to barge in," Annabeth told him. "We were just, um browsing."

"You mean hiding from those no-good kids," he grumbled. "They hang around every night. I get a lot of people in here, thanks to them. Say, you want to look at a water bed?"

Before any of us could deny, Crusty steered us deeper in the show room.

There was every kind of water bed you could imagine: different kind of wood, different patterns of sheets; queen-size, king-size, emperor-of-the-universe-size.

"This is my most popular model." Crusty spread his hands over a bed covered with black satin sheets, with built-in Lava Lamps on the headboard. The mattress vibrated so it looked like oil-flavored Jell-O.

"What is it called?" I asked.

"Million-hand massage," Crusty replied. "Go on, try it out. Shoot, take a nap. I don't care. No business today, anyway."

"Um... I don't think..."

"Million-hand massage!" Grover cried, and dove in. "Sweet!"

"Hmm," Crusty said, stroking his leathery chin. "Almost, almost."

"Almost what?" I asked.

He looked at Annabeth. "Do me a favor and try this one over here, honey. Might fit."

"What do you mean 'might fit'?"

Crusty didn't reply as he led Annabeth over to the Safari Deluxe model with teak wood lions carved into the frame and a leopard-patterned comforter. When Annabeth didn't want to lie down, Crusty pushed her.

"Hey!"

Crusty snapped his fingers. " _Ergo_!"

Ropes lashed from the sides of the bed, lashing around Annabeth, holding her to the mattress.

Grover tried to get up, but his bed too lashed him down.

"N-not c-c-cool!" He tried to yell while his voice vibrated from the million-hand massage. "N-not c-cool a-at all!"

The giant looked at Annabeth and then turned toward me and Nathan. "Almost, darn it."

Nate stepped back and I reached toward my pocket but Crusty's hand shot out and clamped around the back of Nathan's neck and my arm. "Whoa, kids. Don't worry. We'll find both of you one in a second."

"Let our friends go." Nate said.

"Oh, sure I will. But I got to make them fit first."

"What do you mean?"

"All beds are exactly six feet, see? Your friends are too short. Got to make them fit."

Annabeth and Grover kept struggling.

"Can't stand imperfect measurements," Crusty muttered. " _Ergo!_ "

A new set of ropes leaped out from top and bottom of the beds, wrapping around Grover and Annabeth's ankles, then around their armpits. The ropes started tightening, pulling my friends from both ends.

"Don't worry," Crusty said, "These are stretching jobs. Maybe three extra inches on their spines. They might even live. Now, why don't we find you two a bed you like, huh?

"Percy! Nate!" Grover yelled.

My mind was racing. This seem like a story I heard in Latin class- the one with Theseus and a monster called Procrustes, also known as the stretcher. Well, this guy is definitely Procrustes, just with a nickname and suit. If he's a business man these days, maybe I can use that to our advantage.

"You know what? Sure? Let's take a look at those beds," I said.

"Percy, what are you doing?" Nathan whispered.

I only gave Nate my reassuring smile, which didn't lessen Nathan's worries.

Luckily, Crusty-or Procrustes- didn't realize my real motive, or didn't think much about it.

"I'm curious, what do you do for mortals over six feet?" I asked.

"Oh, that happens all the time. It's a simple fix."

He let go of Nathan's back and my arm and reached behind a nearby sales desk and brought out a double bladed brass axe. He said, "I just centered the subject as best as I can and lop off whatever hangs over on either end."

"I see." I nodded. "You know what, Crusty, I'll take on your offer to be stretched to six feet tall,"

"Really?" Crusty asked.

"Yeah, but under one condition-it got to be in a purple water bed," I said. "Purple is my favorite color, and if I'm going to risk my life to be stretched to six feet tall, I want it to be in my favorite color."

Nathan just stared at me, dumbfound.

Crusty then burst out laughing. "A purple colored water bed, huh? I think I got one in the back room."

Crusty led me into the back room as I glanced at Nathan, sending a silent message that goes like: You know what to do.

Nathan nodded, even though he still looked surprised that the stretcher could fell for that.

Crusty led me to the back room where sure enough there was a king size water bed with frame painted in purple with matching purple covers. Heck, it even had bright purple lava lamps!

"Not many people like purple water beds these days, but you're in luck that we have the last one in stock." Procrustes said. "Try it out."

"Hmm… I don't know. It looks like it might cause waves if I jump on it. I get motion sickness really easy," I lied. I hope Crusty fell for that. And he did.

"Oh don't worry about that, young man. All our beds have dynamic stabilizers to stop wave motion," Crusty said, "Even if I sit on it, it won't create a single wave."

"No way!"

"Absolutely."

"Show me!"

He sat down eagerly on the bed, patted the mattress. "No waves. See?"

I snapped my fingers. _"Ergo."_

Ropes lashed around Crusty and flattened him against the mattress.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"Center him just right." I recommended.

The ropes readjust themselves. Crusty's head stuck out the top and his feet stuck out the bottom.

"No!" he said. "Wait! This is just a demo!"

I uncapped Redemption. "A few simple adjustments..."

"You drive a hard bargain." Crusty said. "I'll give you thirty percent off on selected floor models!"

"I think I'll start with the top." I raised my sword.

"No money down! No interest for six months!"

I swung the sword. Crusty stopped making offers.

I capped my sword causing it to shrink back down to pen form. It seemed Nathan had cut Annabeth and Grover free in time as they were pale, groaning, and wincing in pain, but alive.

"Procrustes?" Annabeth asked.

"Dead." I said. "But we still don't know where to find D.O.A. Recording Studio."

"Yes we do!" Nathan said as he showed a flier advertising for D.O.A. Recording Studio with a map underneath it. "According to this, it's only a block from here."

Apparently, my mom decided to bless my quest after all...

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: I've been thinking... after this story is over, I'm planning to write a series of this until The Last Olympian (not surprisingly for you guys). And also, I always want to write a prequel from this, you know, the story of how Percy's dad meet Nemesis to Percy's childhood like that. It would be a collection of one-shots. It's just that, would you guys read it?**


	18. Three Headed Rottweiler

**Chapter 17: Three Headed Rottweiler**

We stood in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking up at gold letters etched in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.

Underneath, stenciled on the glass doors: NO SOLICITORS, NO LOITERING, NO LIVING.

It was almost midnight, but the lobby was brightly lit and full of the spirits of the dead, although due to the Mist, from where we were standing, they looked like living people. Behind the security desk, sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece.

"You remember the plan?" Nate asked.

"The plan," Grover gulped. "Yeah, I love the plan."

"What happens if the plan doesn't work?" Annabeth asked.

"Don't be negative." Nathan said.

"Right," I said. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and we shouldn't think negative."

"Since when you've become negative person?"

"Since the start of this quest, I guess." I shrugged.

"Well, either way, we should head in." Annabeth said.

We walked inside the DOA lobby.

Muzak played softly on hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were steel gray. Pencil cactus-es grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was taken by spirits. There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved, or talked, or did much of anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them all just fine, but if I focused on any one of them in particular, they started looking ... transparent. I could see right through their bodies.

The security guard desk was a raised podium, so we had to look up at him.

He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-colored skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoise shell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.

Nathan, who couldn't read the name tag correctly, asked: "Your name is Chiron?"

Grover and I face palmed. I forgot that Nathan still has a hard time reading the difference between Chiron and Charon.

And how do I know that the security guard is Charon? Well, I have a hunch.

He leaned across the desk looking at Nathan through his thick glasses and smiling with a sweet and cold smile that resembles a Python right before it eats its victims.

"What a precious young lad." He had a strange accent-British, maybe, but also as if he had learned English as a second language. "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"

"N-no."

"Sir," he added smoothly.

"Sir," Nate said.

He pinched the name tag and ran his finger under the letters. "Can you read this, mate? It says C-H-A-R- O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON."

"Charon."

"Amazing! Now: Mr. Charon."

"Mr. Charon," Nathan said.

Well, that was entertaining...

"Well done," Charon sat back. "I _hate_ being confused with that old horse-man. And now, how may I help you, little dead ones?"

Nathan looked unsteady, as if forgetting what to say.

"We want to go to the Underworld." Annabeth said.

Charon's mouth twitched. "Well, that's refreshing."

"It is?" I asked.

"Straightforward and honest. No screaming. No 'There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon." He looked at us. "How did you die, then?"

"We died in a ship wreck," I replied. "A really bad one with the storms going on."

Charon nodded as if he heard it all before. "We been getting a lot of those. I don't suppose you have coins for passage. Normally, with adults, you see. I could charge your American Express, or add the ferry price to your last cable bill. But with children... Alas, you never died prepared. Suppose you'll have to take a seat for a few centuries."

"Oh, but we have coins." Nathan set three golden drachmas on the counter, part of the stash he'd found in Crusty's office desk.

"Well, now ..." Charon moistened his lips. "Real drachmas. Real golden drachmas. I haven't seen these in ..."

His fingers hovered greedily over the coins.

We were so close.

Then Charon looked at Nathan with a cold stare behind his glasses. "Here now," he said. "You couldn't read my name correctly. Are you dyslexic, lad?"

"No." Nate said. "I'm dead."

Charon leaned forward and took a sniff. "You're not dead. I should've known. You're a godling."

"We have to get to the Underworld," Nate insisted.

Charon made a growling sound deep in his throat.

"Leave while you can," Charon told us. "The living should not-" but he never finished his sentence as his gaze landed upon me.

Annabeth and Nathan were silent for a moment, probably holding their breath and Grover was fainted as Charon stared at me, as if trying to examine me.

"Say, you looked familiar." He said. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

What? "No? We never even met." I said.

Charon stared at me again, this time he smiled brightly toward me. "Dark ebony hair, dark coal eyes, and pale skin. My, you looked like a carbon copy of my sister! Well, except the part that you're a boy."

"Wait, what?" Nathan asked, completely confused.

Annabeth looked surprised, probably realizing something as she said, "Of course! How could I forgot?!"

"What is it? What's going on?" Nathan asked.

Annabeth turned to me, while motioned to Charon. "Percy, Charon is technically... Your uncle."

Charon grinned. "So it's true! My sister really does have a son! I wonder what kind of mortal your father is that succeeded on capturing my sister's cold heart." He said. "Believe me, ever since the day Nemesis took that maiden oath, it was a very devastating news in our family."

"Wait, maiden oath?" Annabeth asked.

But she never got her answer as Charon keep talking. "I mean, I already have nieces and nephews from my brothers and other sisters, but they never even bother to visit me. Only when they died and they usually didn't recognized me as their uncle." Charon said, sadly.

Grover woke up from his unconsciousness, but when he sees Charon grinning widely, he fainted again.

Nathan just stared at me and Charon, dumbfound.

"So... Should I call you 'Mr. Charon' or..." I said.

"Please, call me 'Uncle Charon'!"

"Uncle Charon."

Charon grinning way out of his character as dark cold ferryman, which looked like he was high on sugar, with double shot of caffeine, and cake icing. If that's even possible.

* * *

After a few minutes of awkward family moment and Grover finally woke up from his unconsciousness -again, Charon stood from his seat and scoop up the drachmas that Nathan has offered. "Come along."

We pushed though the crowd of waiting spirits, who started grabbing our clothes like the wind, their voices whispering to let them come with. But Charon- I mean, Uncle Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling. "Freeloaders."

He escorted us into the elevator, which was already crowded with souls of the dead, each one holding a green boarding pass. Uncle Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with us and pushed them back into the lobby.

"Right. Now, no one gets any ideas while I'm gone." He announced to the waiting room. "And if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?"

He shut the doors. He put a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and we started to descend.

"What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?" Nathan asked.

"Nothing," Charon said.

"For how long?"

"Forever, or until I'm feeling generous."

"Oh," he said. "That's… fair."

Charon raised an eyebrow. "Whoever said death was fair, young lad? Wait until it's your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going."

"We'll get out alive," Nathan said.

"Ha."

Annabeth doesn't seem to like not knowing something when she found out that my mom had took maiden oath before. "Charon? What do you mean that Nemesis took the maiden oath? And why the myth never mention anything about it?"

Charon looked thoughtful as if he wants to tell Annabeth or not. "Seriously? Olympus never mention anything about my sister's oath to the public? I mean, they practically _begged_ my sister to do that. Also, it's actually a common knowledge here in Underworld."

Annabeth stared at me. "Percy? Do you have any idea about this?"

I shook my head, literally lying to Annabeth.

"It must have been something to do with the Prophecy..." Annabeth murmured. "Oh no... So does that mean that Percy is also a child from the Great Prophecy?"

Charon turned to me. "What an interesting friend you have here, Perseus."

I just shrugged, while both Grover and Nathan just staring at Annabeth, who were talking to herself, frantically.

* * *

The elevator's floor started swaying. I noticed that we were no longer in an elevator, but rather a wooden barge that was moving forward. The air turned misty as the spirits around us started changing shapes. Our modern clothes flickered and changed into gray hooded robes.

Charon himself changed as his creamy Italian suit had been replaced by a long black robe. His tortoise glasses were gone. His face turned transparent like a spirit, except his skull was still visible as day. Where his eyes should've been were empty sockets, Charon's eyes were totally dark, full of night, death, and despair.

"Sorry if I scared you, Perseus. This is my true form." He said as he poling the barge forward.

The barge was on a dark oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other things-plastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

Grover said. "I'm getting seasick."

"This is the River Styx? The River that gave Achilles invulnerability?" I asked.

"The very same, nephew." Charon said.

"Why is the Styx polluted?" Annabeth asked.

"For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across—hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

Mist curled off the filthy water. Above us, almost lost in the gloom, was a ceiling of stalactites. The far shore glimmered with greenish light of poison.

I noticed that Nathan was in a verge of panic until Annabeth grabbed his hand in reassurance.

The shoreline of the Underworld came into our view. Craggy rocks and volcanic sand stretched inland about a hundred yards to the base of a high stone wall, which marched off in either direction as far as we could see. A sound came from somewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones—the howl of a large animal.

"Old Three-Face is hungry," Charon said. His smile turned skeletal in the greenish light. "Don't worry, Perseus. He will not eat you as you are my family, but I'm not quite sure with your friends here..."

Grover was about to faint again, but Nathan pinched him quickly to make sure he doesn't fall unconscious in our way to Hades. The bottom of our boat slid onto the black sand. The dead began to disembark. A woman holding a little girl's hand. An old man and an old woman hobbling along arm in arm. A boy no older than me, shuffling silently along in his gray robe.

Charon said, "I'd wish you luck, mates, but there isn't any down here. Mind you. And Perseus, don't forget to visit me while you still can."

He counted our golden coins into his pouch, then took up his pole. He warbled something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he ferried the empty barge back across the river.

"Come on," Annabeth said.

We followed the spirits up a well worn path.

* * *

The entrance of the Underworld wasn't what I expected. And Nate said that it look like a cross between airport security and the Jersey Turnpike.

There were three separate entrances under one huge black archway that said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each entrance had a pass-through metal detector with security cameras mounted on top. Beyond that was tollbooths manned by black-robed ghouls that resembles Charon.

The howling of Cerberus was really loud from where we were, but we couldn't see the beast.

The dead queued up in three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving right along. The other two were crawling.

"What do you figure?" Nathan asked Annabeth.

"The fast-ling must go straight to the Asphodel Fields," she said. "No contest. They don't want to risk judgment from the court, because it might go against them."

"I would face judgment." I said.

"Wait! There's a court for the dead people?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah. Three judges. They switch around who sits on the bench. King Minos, Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare—people like that. Sometimes they look at a life and decided that person needs a special reward—the Field of Elysium. Sometimes they decide on punishment. But most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Asphodel Fields."

"And do what?"

Grover said, "Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever."

"Harsh," I said.

"Not as harsh as that," Grover muttered. "Look."

A couple of black-robbed ghouls had pulled aside one spirit and were frisking him at the security desk. The face of the dead man looked vaguely familiar.

"He's that preacher who made the news, remember?" Grover asked.

"Oh, yeah." I did remember now. We'd seen him on TV a couple of times at the Yancy Academy dorm. He was this annoying televangelist from upstate New York who'd raised millions of dollars for orphanages and then got caught spending the money on stuff for his mansion, like gold-plated toilet seats, and an indoor putt-putt golf course. He'd died in a police chase when his "Lamborghini for the Lord" went off a cliff. I have a feeling that my mom had something to do with that.

"That's what he gets for having too many gifts." I murmured.

Nathan said, "What are they doing to him?"

"Special punishment from Hades," Grover guessed. "The really bad people get his personal attention as soon as they arrive. The Fur—the Kindly Ones will set up an eternal torture for him.

"But if he's a preacher," Nate said, "and he believes in a different hell…"

Grover shrugged. "Who says he's seeing this place the way we're seeing it? Humans see what they want to see."

"I hope he gets the right punishment for his acts." I murmured.

"You know, Percy? You started to act more and more like Nemesis." Annabeth said. "And it actually scares me."

I stayed quiet but I had a feeling Annabeth was right. I do started to think like the Goddess of Revenge.

"Come on guys," Nate said.

* * *

When we got closer to the gates, the howling got so loud that it now shook the ground, but we still couldn't find Cerberus.

Then, about fifty feet in front of us, the green mist shimmered. Standing just where the path split into three lanes was an enormous shadowy monster.

It was half transparent like the dead, which explains why we didn't see it before now. No one would have saw it while it was standing absolutely still, except for its six eyes and three sets of teeth. What worse, it was staring right at us now.

Nathan's jaw hung open. All he could say was, "He's a Rottweiler."

Sure enough, Cerberus looked exactly like a woolly mammoth size Rottweiler with three heads. The dead walked right up to him-no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of him. The EZ DEATH spirits walked right between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without even crouching.

"I'm starting to see him better," Nathan muttered. "Why is that?"

"Maybe we been down here long enough that he starting to look more visible." I said.

Annabeth moistened her lips. "or because we're getting closer to being dead."

"I like Percy's explanation better. "Grover said.

The dog's middle head craned toward us. It sniffed the air and growled.

"I think it can smell the living." Nate said.

"But that's okay," Grover said, trembling next to me. "Because we have a plan."

"Right," Annabeth said. I'd never heard her voice sound quite so small. "A plan."

We moved toward the monster.

The middle head snarled at us, then barked so loud my eyeballs rattled.

"Can you understand it?" I asked Grover.

"Oh yeah," he said. "I can understand it."

"What's it saying?"

"I don't think humans have a four-letter word that translates, exactly."

Nathan took out the bedpost he'd brought, held it up, and tried to smile as if he wasn't about to die.

"Hey, Big Fella," he called up. "I bet they don't play with you much."

"GROWWWWWLLL!"

"Good boy." Nathan said weakly.

He waved the stick. Cerberus' middle head followed the movement. The other two heads trained their eyes on him, completely ignoring the spirits.

"Fetch!" he threw the stick into the gloom. There was a _ker-sploosh_ from the River of Styx.

Cerberus glared at Nathan, unimpressed. His eyes were baleful and cold.

"So much for your plan." I muttered.

Cerberus was now making a new kind of growl, deeper down in his three throats.

"Um," Grover said. "Nate?"

"Yeah?"

"I just thought you'd want to know."

"Yeah?"

"Cerberus? He's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice. After that… well… he's hungry."

"Wait!" Annabeth said as she started riffling through her pack.

"Five seconds," Grover said. "Do we run now?"

Annabeth produced a red rubber ball the size of a grapefruit. It was labeled WATERLAND, DENVER, CO. She raised the ball and marched straight up to Cerberus.

She shouted, "See the ball? You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!"

Cerberus looked as stunned as the rest of us.

All three heads cocked sideways. Six nostrils dilated.

"Sit!" Annabeth called again.

Cerberus licked his three sets of lips, shifted on his hunches, and sat, immediately crushing a dozen spirits who'd been passing underneath him in the EZ DEATH line. The spirits made muffled hissed as they dissipated, like the air let out of tires.

Annabeth said, "Good boy!"

She threw Cerberus the ball. He caught it in his middle mouth. It was barely big enough for him to chew, and the other heads started snapping the middle, trying to get the new toy.

At this point, I caught on what Annabeth was doing.

"Drop it.'" Annabeth ordered.

Cerberus's heads stopped fighting and looked at her. The ball was wedged between two of his teeth like a tiny piece of gum. He made a loud, scary whimper, then dropped the ball, now slimy and bitten nearly in half, at Annabeth's feet.

"Good boy." She picked up the ball, ignoring the monster spit all over it.

She turned toward us. "Go now. EZ DEATH line-it's faster."

Nate said, "But-"

"Now.'" She ordered, in the same tone she was using on the dog.

Grover, Nathan and I inched forward warily.

Cerberus started to growl.

"Stay!" Annabeth ordered the monster. "If you want the ball, stay!"

Cerberus whimpered, but he stayed where he was.

"What about you?" I asked Annabeth as we passed her.

"I know what I'm doing, Percy," she muttered. "At least, I'm pretty sure... ."

Grover, Nathan and I walked between the monster's legs. Nate is currently praying that Annabeth doesn't order Cerberus to sit again.

We made it through. Cerberus wasn't any less scary looking from the back.

Annabeth said, "Good dog!"

She held up the tattered red ball, and probably came to the same conclusion I did-if she rewarded Cerberus, there be nothing left for another trick.

She threw the ball anyway. The monster's left mouth immediately snatched it up, only to be attacked by the middle head, while the right head moaned in protest.

While the monster was distracted, Annabeth walked briskly under its belly and joined us at the metal detector.

"How did you do that?" Nathan asked her, amazed.

"Obedience school," she said breathlessly. "When I was little, at my dad's house, we had a Doberman... ."

"Never mind that," Grover said, tugging at Nate's shirt. "Come on!"

We were about to bolt through the EZ DEATH line when Cerberus moaned pitifully from all three mouths. Annabeth stopped.

She turned to face the dog, which had done a one-eighty to look at us.

Cerberus panted expectantly, the tiny red ball in pieces in a puddle of drool at its feet.

"Good boy," Annabeth said, but her voice sounded melancholy and uncertain.

The monster's heads turned sideways, as if worried about her.

"I'll bring you another ball soon," Annabeth promised faintly. "Would you like that?"

The monster whimpered. I didn't need to speak dog to know Cerberus was still waiting for the ball.

"Good dog. I'll come visit you soon. I-I promise." Annabeth turned to us. "Let's go."

Grover, Nathan and I pushed through the metal detector, which immediately screamed and set off flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"

Cerberus started to bark.

We burst through the EZ DEATH gate, which started even more alarms blaring, and raced into the Underworld.

A few minutes later, we were hiding, out of breath, in the rotten trunk of an immense black tree as security ghouls scuttled past, yelling for backup from the Furies.

Grover murmured, "Well, Nathan, what have we learned today?"

"That three-headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?"

"No," Grover told him. "We've learned that your plans really, really bite!"

"I think he's referring to the fact that sometimes thinking on your feet has its advantages," Annabeth said.

"That—and the fact that even monstrous dogs need attention once in a while," I replied.

Even here in the Underworld, everybody-even monsters-needed a little attention once in a while.

I thought about that as we waited for the ghouls to pass. I pretended not to see Annabeth wipe a tear from her cheek as she listened to the mournful keening of Cerberus in the distance, longing for his new friend.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: I'm going to set up a poll to vote whether I should start writing for Son of Revenge prequel or not.**


	19. The Uncertain Revelation

**Chapter 18: The Uncertain Revelation**

One way to describe the Field of Asphodel is a giant field with whispering, no lights with black grass trampled grass; a warm, moist wind blowing like the breath of swamp; and black poplar trees growing in clumps here and there. Most importantly the only occupants are spirits whose numbers are more than the population of the living on earth.

In other words: Very crowded.

The cavern ceiling was so high above, it looked like it could have been a bank of storm clouds. Only it was stalactites, which glowed faint gray and looked pointed. There were some that dotted the field so it didn't take much to figure out that the stalactites have fallen before, and, although not much of a problem for the ghost, which made us very cautious.

We tried to blend into the crowd, keeping an eye out for security ghouls.

We crept along, following the line of new arrivals that snaked from the main gates toward a black tented pavilion with a banner that read:

JUDGMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION

Welcome, Newly Deceased!

I have trouble imagining my father passed through this way, seeing that huge banner, and confused whether he should cried that he's already dead or completely confused at how 'cheerful' the banner looked like.

Out the back of the tent came two much smaller lines.

To the left, spirits flanked by security ghouls were marched down a rocky path toward the Fields of Punishment, which glowed and smoked in the distance, a vast, cracked wasteland with rivers of lava and minefields and miles of barbed wire separating the different torture areas. Even from far away, I could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches or listen to opera music. I could just make out a tiny hill, with the ant-size figure of Sisyphus struggling to move his boulder to the top. And I saw worse tortures, too-things I don't want to describe.

The line coming from the right side of the judgment pavilion was much better. This one led down toward a small valley surrounded by walls-a gated community, which seemed to be the only happy part of the Underworld. Beyond the security gate were neighborhoods of beautiful houses from every time period in history, Roman villas and medieval castles and Victorian mansions. Silver and gold flowers bloomed on the lawns. The grass rippled in rainbow colors. I could hear laughter and smell barbecue cooking.

Elysium.

In the middle of that valley was a glittering blue lake, with three small islands like a vacation resort in the Bahamas. The Isles of the Blest, for people who had chosen to be reborn three times, and three times achieved Elysium.

My father must be in Elysium. Immediately I knew that's where I wanted to go when I died.

"That's what it's all about," Annabeth said, like she was reading my thoughts. "That's the place for heroes."

But I thought of how few people there were in Elysium, how tiny it was compared to the Fields of Asphodel or even the Fields of Punishment. So few people did good in their lives. It was depressing.

We left the judgment pavilion and moved deeper into the Asphodel Fields. It got darker. The colors faded from our clothes. The crowds of chattering spirits began to thin.

After a few miles of walking, we began to hear a familiar screech in the distance. Looming on the horizon was a palace of glittering black obsidian. Above the parapets swirled three dark bat-like creatures: the Furies. I got the feeling they were waiting for us.

"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover said wistfully.

"We'll be okay." Nate tried to sound confident.

"Maybe we should search some of the other places first," Grover suggested. "Like, Elysium for instance…"

"Come on, Grover, relax," I said. "Just think, when we get out of here and complete this quest, the Council of Cloven Elders will have no other choice but give you your searcher's license."

"Yeah, sure-" Grover said.

Suddenly he yelped. His sneakers sprouted wings and his legs shot forward, pulling him away from us. He landed flat on his back in the grass.

"Grover," Annabeth chided. "Stop messing around."

"But I didn't-"

He yelped again. His shoes were flapping like crazy now. They levitated off the ground and start dragging him away from us.

" _Maia!_ " he yelled, but the magic word seemed to have no effect. _"Maia,_ already! Nine-one-one! Help!"

Nathan and I made a grab for Grover's hand, but only I was able to catch him as Grover picked up speed, causing him to skid downhill like a bobsled while I skidding with him face first.

Nathan and Annabeth ran after us.

"Grover, help me up!" I said.

Grover nodded and pulled himself up so I could get to my feet.

We zipped between the legs of spirits who chattered at both of us with annoyance.

Then the shoes veered sharply to the right, causing me to land on my face again while managing to hold on although it did cause me to yell: "OW!"

We reached a steep slope where Grover picked up a speed. Annabeth and Nathan were now sprinting to catch up. The cavern walls narrowed to either side as we entered a tunnel. Luckily, I had already started pulling myself up, otherwise I will get a mouth full of rocks.

I manage to use Grover's pants and shirt without tugging on his fur to get to my feet. That's when I saw what was ahead of us and almost froze.

The tunnel widened into a huge dark cavern, and in the middle was a chasm the size of a city block. I immediately recognized it from my dreams.

I closed my eyes and focus on using my telekinesis power to push both of us away from the cave's mouth. It's sort of worked as we are now skidded a little slower just several feet from the slope. The winged shoes kept tugging, trying to break Grover free, but I kept my held.

Finally, Grover's hooves slipped out of his fake feet and both of us fell onto the rocky surface. Both sneakers flew off into the darkness.

"Ow!" We groaned as Nathan and Annabeth manage to catch up and stop to catch their breaths.

Both me and Grover were slightly scraped and bruised, and Grover's eyes had gone slit-pupiled like a goat, which happens whenever Grover was terrified, but both of us were okay.

"Thanks Percy." Grover said.

"Don't worry about it."

"I thought you two were goners." Annabeth said.

"So did I for a moment." I admitted.

"Wait," Nate said. "Listen."

We did and sure enough there was a deep whisper in the darkness.

Annabeth the said, "Maybe we should-"

"Shh." Nate stood.

The sound was getting louder, a muttering, evil voice from far,far below us. Coming from the pit.

Grover and I sat up as Grover said, "Wh-what's that noise?"

"Tartarus," Annabeth said. "The entrance to Tartarus."

Nate and I uncapped Anaklusmos and Apolytrosis, causing both swords to grow out in full form.

Although Anaklusmos was the only sword that glowed, the evil voice seem to have sense both swords and faltered for a moment before resuming its chant in a language older than Greek.

"Magic," Nathan said.

"We have to get out of here," Annabeth said.

Together, Nathan and Annabeth dragged Grover to his hooves as I got back up and we started to run back up the tunnel.

Suddenly, a cold blast of wind pulled at our backs. For a moment Nate almost lost his footing and I have to kept Nathan up.

"Go!" I said.

Nathan nodded as we struggled forward until reached the top of the tunnel and onto the Field of Asphodel. The wind died once we were out, but a wail of outrage echoed from deep in the tunnel.

"What was that?" Grover panted. "One of Hades' pets?"

"No." I said as I capped my sword back. "Hades' pets and servants would be in Underworld, not in Tartarus, right? It got to be something else."

Nate capped his sword and put the pen back in his pocket. "Let's keep going." He looked at Grover. "Can you walk?"

Grover swallowed. "Yeah, sure. I never liked those shoes, anyway."

"Speaking of which, why did they do that?" I asked.

"It could be the fact that we're down here." Nathan said.

"It can't be that simple," Annabeth said. "Don't forget, Luke got those from Hermes himself, and Hermes is one of the few Olympians that is allowed to enter and leave the Underworld when needed."

"Then what-" I said.

"I don't know. But for now we should go get to Hades Palace," Annabeth said.

No one argued as we headed off.

* * *

The furies circled the parapets in the high gloom. The outer walls of the fortress glittered black, and the two-story-tall bronze gates stood wide open.

Engraved on the gates were scenes of death: some from modern times—an atomic bomb exploding over a city, a trench filled with gas mask-wearing soldiers, a line of African famine victims waiting with empty bowls—and yet each one of them looked as if it been etched into the bronze thousands of years ago.

"I wonder if they're prophecies of death." I said.

"Maybe." Nate responded.

We headed into the courtyard and into a garden of multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and weird luminous plants that grew without sunlight. Precious jewels made up for the lack of flowers, piles of big rubies, clumps of raw diamonds. Standing around the garden were frozen party guest of Medusa's garden statues-petrified children, satyrs, and centaurs-and smiling grotesquely.

In the center of the garden was an orchard of pomegranate trees, their orange blooms neon bright in the dark.

"The garden of Persephone," Annabeth said. "Keep walking."

"Don't need to tell me twice," I muttered.

"Can I have one Pomegranate?" Grover asked.

"Come on," Nate said as he dragged Grover away.

We walked up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a black marble portico, and into the house of Hades. The entry hall had polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the reflected torchlight. There was no ceiling, just the cavern roof, far above.

Every side doorway was guarded by a skeleton in military gear. Some wore Greek armor, some British redcoat uniforms, some camouflage with tattered American flags on the shoulders. They carried spears or muskets or M-16s. None of them bothered us, but their hollow eye sockets followed us as we walked down the hall, toward the big set of doors at the opposite end.

Two U.S. Marine skeletons guarded the doors. They grinned down at us, rocket-propelled grenade launchers held across their chests.

"You know," Grover mumbled, "I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesmen."

I realized that Nathan was struggling with his backpack. "Is something wrong Nate?"

"I'm fine," Nathan said. "Let's just get this over with."

A hot wind blew down the corridor, and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside.

"I guess that means _entrez-vous,_ " Annabeth said.

Nathan and I recognized the room from our dream. Only this time, the throne of Hades was occupied.

He was the third god we met, but Hades must have been in full size form and decided to dress as a god.

Hades was at least ten feet tall, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair was shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Heracles, but he radiated power. He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther.

I could sense Hades aura almost immediately as we entered the room. It was effective, just as Heracles' was and Hades resembled some old photos I seen: Adolf Hitler, and Napoleon. Hades had the same intense eyes that were mesmerizing, evil with charisma. And yet, at the same time, I thought I seen someone else with eyes like that personally, but I disregarded it.

"You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon," he said in an oily voice. "After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish."

"Well, at this point its brave, but he can be foolish." I muttered.

Hades turned to me causing me to shrink down. I shouldn't mention something like that...

"You're that Son of Nemesis the Goddess of Revenge, huh?"

"Uh- yes sir- I mean lord," I said. "My name is Perseus Jackson."

Nathan cleared his throat. "Lord and Uncle, I come with two-" He glanced at me for a moment. "um, three requests."

Hades raised an eyebrow. He sat forward in his throne, causing shadowy faces to appear in the folds of his black robe, faces of torment, as if the garment were stitched of trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment, trying to get out.

"Only three requests?" Hades said. "Arrogant child. As if you have not already taken enough. Speak, then. It amuses me not to strike you dead yet."

Nathan swallowed back his fear.

Meanwhile, I noticed the smaller throne next to Hades'. It was shaped like a black flower, gilded with gold. My best guess was that it belonged to Persephone, and because it was Summer, the queen of the Underworld was spending this time of year with her mother Demeter.

Annabeth cleared her throat and prodded me and Nate on the back.

"Lord Hades," Nathan said. "Look, sir, there can't be a war among the gods. It would be... Bad."

"Really bad." Grover added helpfully.

"Return Zeus' master bolt to me." Nathan said. "Please, sir. Let me carry it to Olympus."

Hades' eyes grew dangerously bright. "You dare keep up this pretense, after what you have done?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "What do you think Nathan have done?"

The throne room shook with so much tremor that I bet that L.A could feel it. Debrises fell from the cavern ceiling. Doors burst open all along the walls, and skeletal warriors marched in, hundreds of them from across history. They lined the perimeter of the room, blocking the exits.

Hades bellowed. "Do you think I _want_ war, godling?"

"You are the Lord of the Dead," Nathan said carefully. "A war would expand your kingdom, right?"

"A typical thing for my brothers to say! Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?"

"Well…"

"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I had to open?"

Nate looked like he wanted to say something, but Hades was on a roll now.

"More security ghouls," he moaned. Traffic problems at the judgment pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Nathan Dorian. I control all the precious metals of the earth. But my expenses! Problems everywhere, and I've got to handle all of them personally. The commute time alone from then palace to the gates is enough to drive me insane! And the dead just keep arriving. _No_ , godling. I need no help getting subjects! _I_ did not ask for this war."

I had a feeling that might be the case.

"But you took Zeus' master bolt." Nathan argued.

"Lies!" More rumbling. Hades rose from his throne, towering to the height of a football goalpost. "Your father may fool Zeus, boy, but I am not so stupid. I see his plan."

"His plan?"

"You were the thief on the winter solstice," he said. "Your father thought to keep you his little secret. He directed you into the throne room on Olympus. You took the master bolt _and_ my helm. Had I not sent my Fury to discover you at Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in hiding his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open. You will be exposed as Poseidon's thief, and I will have my helm back!"

"But…" Annabeth spoke. "Lord Hades, your helm of darkness is missing, too?"

"Don't play innocent with me, girl. You and the Nemesis' spawn and the satyr have been helping this hero-coming here to threaten me in Poseidon's name, no doubt-to bring me an ultimatum. Does Poseidon think I can be blackmailed or threatened into supporting him?"

"Hey, hold on a second!" I argued. "I've been with Nathan the whole winter break, and he been nowhere on Mount Olympus. He didn't even know Olympus actually existed until we came to Camp Half-blood, and Annabeth and Grover has nothing to do with your Helm being stolen!"

"Don't lie to me Perseus Jackson. Just because your grandparents are the most respected Primordials, doesn't mean I won't make the rest of your mortal life a living torture," Hades said. "I have said nothing of the helm's disappearance, because I had no illusions that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help. I can ill afford for word to get out that my most powerful weapon of fear is missing. So I search for this boy myself, and when it was clear you were coming to me to deliver your threat, I did not try to stop you."

"You didn't try to stop us?" Nathan asked. "But—"

"Return my helm now, or I will stop death," Hades threatened. "That is my counter proposal. I will open the earth and have the dead pour back into the world. I will make your lands a nightmare. And you, Nathan Dorian—your skeleton will lead my army out of Hades."

The skeletal soldiers all took one step forward, making their weapons ready.

"You're as bad as Zeus!" Nathan said with anger, "You think I stole from you? That's why you sent the Furies after me?"

"Of course," Hades said.

"And the other monsters?"

Hades curled his lip. "I had nothing to do with them. I wanted no quick death for you—I wanted you brought before me alive so you might face every torture in the Fields of Punishment. Why do you think I let you enter my kingdom so easily? Now, return my property!"

"But Nathan doesn't have your helm." I stated.

"That's right! I came for the master bolt," Nathan responded.

"Nate-" I warned.

"Which you already possess!" Hades interrupted with a shout. "You came here with it, little fool, thinking you could threaten me!"

"But I didn't!"

"Open your pack, then."

Nathan was hesitant at first, but then he slung it off his shoulder and unzipped it. Inside was a two-foot long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, humming with energy.

I never saw the master bolt before now, but I knew instantly that cylinder was it.

"Nathan," Annabeth said. "How-"

"Heracles," I said. "He gave you that backpack. He must have somehow got his hands on the bolt. But why-"

"You heroes are always the same," Hades said. "Your pride makes you foolish, thinking you could bring such a weapon before me. I did not ask for Zeus' master bolt, but since it is here, you will yield it to me. I am sure it will make an excellent bargaining tool. And now ... my helm. Where is it?"

"Lord Hades, you don't understand," I said. "This is a mistake. We were set up!"

"A mistake?" Hades roared.

The skeletons aimed their weapons. The furies swooped down to perch on the back of their master's throne.

"There's no mistake," Hades said. "I know why you have come—I know the real reason you brought the bolt. You came to bargain for _her._ "

Hades loosed a ball of gold fire from his palm. It exploded on the step in front of Nathan, and there was Agatha Dorian, frozen in a shower of gold, just as she was when the Minotaur tried to squeeze her to death.

Nathan was speechless as he tried to touch her but couldn't due to the heat from the light.

"Yes," Hades said with satisfaction. "I took her. I knew, Nathan Dorian, that you would come to bargain with me eventually. Return my helm, and perhaps I will let her go. She is not dead, you know. Not yet. But if you displease me, that will change."

That's low. To think I tried to defend this guy.

Nate subconsciously reached for his pockets, where the four pearls were at.

"Ah, the pearls," Hades said. "Yes, my brother and his little tricks. Bring them forth, Nathan Dorian."

Nate took out four pearls.

"Only four," Hades said. "What a shame. You do realize each only protects a single person. Try to take your mother, then, little godling. And which of your friends will you leave behind to spend eternity with me? Go on. Chose. Or give me the backpack, and accept my terms."

"Nate, don't." I said. "This is a trick, and you know it."

"Yeah, but why?" Annabeth asked. "And the voice in the pit-"

"I don't know yet." Nathan said. "But I intend to ask."

"Decide, boy!" Hades yelled.

"Nate," Grover said. "You can't give him the bolt."

"I know that."

"Leave me here," I said. "Use my pearl for your mom."

"What? No way, Percy!" Nathan said.

"I'll be fine." I said, sadly. "Besides, I would have a chance to meet my dad again."

"No, Percy, I should do it." Grover said. "Satyrs don't have mortal souls like humans. We're immediately reincarnated when we die."

"This is ridiculous," Annabeth yelled. "I'm the best strategist, so I should stay down here."

"Stop it, guys!" Nathan responded. "I know what to do." He took out the four pearls and handed three of us to each of them. "Take these."

"But Nathan…" Annabeth said.

Nathan turned to face his mother. When he did, I understood. Nathan must knew this was meant to be. Even if it was temporary-hopefully.

"I'm sorry." he told her. "I'll be back. I'll find a way."

The smug look on Hades face faded. He said, "Godling…?"

"I'll find your helm, Uncle," Nathan told him. "And you already knew what are my first and second requests, but you still didn't know what is my third request."

"Third request?" Hades asked, slight annoyed. "What is it exactly you want, godling?"

Nathan turned to me. "It's not for me exactly. I want Percy to meet his father again."

Then silence enveloped in the throne room with Hades looked stunned and- confused? Hades turned to me. "Who was your father?"

"Barry Jackson, my lord." I answered without hesitant. "He died from a car accident?"

Hades looked stunned again. He materialized a rather large black book, flipped a few pages, and examined it. He frowned and then turned to me again.

"There must be a mistake," Hades said. "There is no Barry Jackson on the list of denizen of Elysium, Asphodel, or even Field of Punishment. As far as I know, there has never been a Barry Jackson on the list of death person." He looked to me. "Your father's soul never reached Underworld, godling."

What?! How?!

Before I had the time to respond. Nathan shouted. "Now, guys!"

We smashed the pearls-although I did it in instinct- at our feet. At first nothing happened.

Hades yelled, "Destroy them!"

The army of skeletons rushed forward, swords out, guns clinking to full automatic. The Furies lunged, their whips bursting into flames.

However a burst of green light and a gust of fresh sea wind surrounded the four of us as four milky white spheres encased us and started floating us off the ground. Any weapon fired bounced harmlessly off the bubbles as Hades yelled in rage, causing the fortress the shake again.

"Look up!" Grover yelled. "We're going to crash!"

Sure enough the bubbles were taking us straight toward the stalactites, but instead of popping the bubbles and skewering us, the bubbles faded through them like it was nothing as we headed through solid ground.


	20. We Battled a Moronic Hero of Olympus

**Chapter 19: We Battled a Moronic Hero of Olympus**

A Coast Guard boat picked us up, but they were too busy to keep us for long, or to wonder how four kids in street clothes had gotten out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to mop up. Their radios were jammed with distress calls.

They dropped us off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around our shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and sped off to save more people.

Our clothes were sopping wet, even Nathan's. When the Coast Guard boat had appeared, I'd silently prayed they wouldn't pick Nate out of the water and find him perfectly dry, which might've raised some eyebrows. It turns out, Nate also think the same thing as he apparently manage to willed himself to get soaked. I was barefoot, because I'd given my shoes to Grover. Better the Coast Guard wonder why one of us was barefoot than wonder why one of us had hooves.

After reaching dry land, we stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise. I felt as if I'd just come back from the dead-which I had. My heart felt heavier from hearing the fact that my father's soul was never reach Underworld on the first place. And it was confirmed by Lord of the Dead himself.

"I don't believe it," Annabeth said. "We went all that way-"

"It was a trick," Nathan said. "A strategy worthy of Athena."

"Hey," she warned.

"You get it, don't you?"

She dropped her eyes, her anger fading. "Yeah. I get it."

"Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would some-body-"

"Percy..." Annabeth said. "I'm sorry about your father. And I'm so sorry about your mother as well, Nathan..."

I pretended not to hear her.

"The prophecy was right," Nathan said. "You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."

"Alright then," I said. "Let's go find Heracles so we can get the Helm. Otherwise even if we return the bolt, Hades will stir up trouble and we can't save Mrs. Dorian."

No one argued against that logic.

It didn't take long to find Heracles. It turns out, the so called Hero of Olympus was waiting for us, in his white baseball jacket and blue baseball cap. He had an aluminum metal baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His car rumbled beside him, its headlight turning the sand bright white.

"Hey, kid." Heracles said, seemingly genuinely pleased to see Nathan. "You managed to survive after all."

"You tricked me," Nathan said. " _You_ stole the Helm and the Master Bolt."

Heracles grinned. "Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each others' symbols of power- that's a big no-no. But you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands."

"Who did you use? One of your demigod fans? One of your kids? If I recall there's a few of your demigods were there at Winter Solstice." Annabeth said. She's clearly annoyed at Heracles as she doesn't looked like about to give him anymore respect from her.

The idea seemed to amuse him. "It doesn't matter. The point is, Nathan is impeding the war effort. See, he has got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have father's master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this ..."

From his pocket he took out a ski cap-the kind bank robbers wear-and placed it between the trunk of his car. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

"The helm of darkness," Grover gasped.

"Exactly," Heracles said. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way war going."

"But they're your family!" Annabeth protested.

"Yeah! And why would you want war? Isn't that Ares' job?" I asked.

Heracles just smirked. "That stupid war puppy had retired from his war business since World War II. And why I want war? It's simple, really. My father is weak compared to both Poseidon and Hades. If he fade away during the war, there will be no doubt who will inherit his throne."

Annabeth gasped. "No! Zeus still has any other of his immortal children to inherit the throne!"

"But which one is daddy's favorite?" Heracles pointed to himself. "Me."

His pride is sickening me now. It's almost blinded me from all of the aura of arrogance flared from him. "Why would you be so sure about that? If I remembered correctly, Athena is another one of Zeus' favorite children. If you really want to be the new King of Olympus, shouldn't you eliminate her first?"

"Percy!" Annabeth scowled.

"Sorry, I'm just trying to make a point here!"

Heracles frowned. "True. Unfortunately for that Owl Head, Zeus preferred me _more_ than her. Apparently because I am so similar to him than Athena ever does."

"You gave me the backpack in Denver," Nathan said. "The master bolt was in there the whole time."

"Yes and no," Heracles said. "It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid. It always returns to your pocket, right?"

I wasn't sure how Heracles knew about that, but I guess being the former demigod hero had to make it his business to know more about weapons.

"Anyway," Heracles continued, "I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades... Bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way-no loss. I still had the weapon."

"But why not just keep the master bolt for yourself?" I said. "Why send it to Hades?"

Heracles got a twitch in his jaw. For a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "Why didn't I ... yeah ... with that kind of power ..."

He held the trance for one second ... two seconds...

I exchanged nervous looks with Annabeth and Nathan.

Heracles's face cleared. "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught red-handed, holding the thing."

"You're lying," I said. "Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"

"Of course it was!" His electric blue eyes glowed brightly as it wants to burst into a laser any second now.

"You didn't order the theft," I guessed. "Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around."

"I am the greatest hero of Olympus! Son of the Mighty Zeus! Future King of Olympus! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"

I hesitated. "Who said anything about dreams?"

Heracles looked agitated, but he tried to cover it with a smirk.

"Let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal."

He snapped his finger. The sand exploded at his feet and out charged a wild Nemean Lion, the same one he slain during Ancient times. Larger and meaner that the one in the picture from my Greek history book. The beast roared at us that almost shake the ground around us.

Nate stepped into the surf. "Fight me yourself, Heracles. Prove to me that your what Olympus called 'The greatest hero'."

Heracles laughed, but I heard a little edge to his laughter ... an uneasiness. "You've only got one talent, kid, running away. You ran from the Chimera. You ran from the Underworld. And that's not a great material for a hero. You don't have what it takes."

"Then why don't we double this chance?" I said. "You versus the two of us."

"You? You have less a chance than your friend there," Heracles said while trying to cover his worried look, "You're just a demigod from a _minor_ goddess."

"Scared?" Nathan asked.

"And, aren't you technically a minor god as well?" I said.

"In your adolescent dreams," His cap began to burn from the amount of heat of his eyes. "No direct involvement. Sorry, kids. You're not at my level."

It was at this moment I realized that the jacket Heracles wore had flickered to a body armor then back to jacket.

Annabeth said, "Percy, Nathan, Run!"

The giant Nemean Lion lunge to attack.

Both me and Nate took out our pens and uncapped it causing both swords to form in our hands. We sidestepped the lion and stabbed and slash righ through the lion and destroyed it. Then we turned to Heracles.

"Are you going to fight us now?" I asked.

"Or are you going to hide behind another big cat?" Nate taunt.

Heracles' face was purple with rage. "Watch it, kids, I could turn you into-"

"A cockroach," Nathan said. "Or a tapeworm. Yeah, I'm sure."

"I'm sure the rest of Olympus would like to hear that." I said.

He stepped on the surf, which forming a crack on it. "Really, you two are asking to be smashed into a grease stop."

"If we lose, you can turn both of us into whatever you want and take the bolt." I said. "If we win, the helm and the bolt are ours to return and _you_ have to go away." I noticed his jacket had turn slightly into red. "Also, you may have to give both of us your jacket."

Annabeth and Nathan just looked at me, confused.

"It's not your jacket, is it?" I said. "It looked more like a body armor than a baseball jacket. I think it belonged to... Hmm.. A certain god with _war_ as his domain?"

Annabeth's eyes widened as if she finally caught up with what I'm getting at as she looked at Heracles' jacket some more. "Percy, are you saying that Heracles has the Shield of Ares as well?!"

"I don't see any shield." Nathan said.

"Look closely at his jacket, Seaweed Brain." She sighed. "Ares' shield always disguised as a body armor."

It was Nathan turns to be surprised. "Wow, that's one scary looking body armor."

"I don't believe this," Grover stunned. "First, Heracles has the bolt, then the helm, now he also has Ares' shield too? That could explain why all of Ares' kids were so agitated to go on a quest..."

Heracles sneered as he swung the baseball bat off his shoulder. "How would you two like to get smashed: classic or modern?"

We responded his question by raising our swords.

"That's cool," he said. "Classic it is." The baseball bat changed into his bronze club. The hilt was golden trimmed with platinum and a sapphire shaped of a head of lion on its tip.

"Don't do this guys," Annabeth said, "He's a god."

"He's a coward," Nate said.

"We don't have much of a choice, Annabeth," I said. "We got to get the Helm back. Also, I have been waiting to whoop his butt for being an arrogant pompous brat."

"You really are Nemesis' son." Annabeth said. She took off her necklace, with five years worth of camp beads and tied it around Nathan's neck.

"Reconciliation. Athena and Poseidon together" she said. She also gave me the ring from her father. "Athena always value the heroes that use wit instead of brawn to solve problems."

Nathan and I nodded, although Nate has a blush when doing it.

"Here, Percy." Grover said handing me a flatten piece of tin can. "Satyrs stand behind you."

"Thanks." I said as I stuffed it in my back pocket.

"You all done saying good bye?" Heracles came toward us with his jacket, now turned into black body armor and his club shine with dangerous aura. "I've been fighting for eternity, kids. I am famous with my unusual and strength and I cannot die. What have you got?"

"Our friends' support." Nate said.

"And the power to adsorb your power. Nothing much." I finished.

Heracles swung downward at the two of us. I quickly jumped aside as the water pushed Nate into the air as he catapult over Heracles, slashing his way down. However, Heracles was just as quick. He twisted and deflect the strike that was meant for his spine.

Heracles grinned. "Not bad, not bad."

He swung again and forced Nathan into dry land.

Before Heracles could notice, I quickly absorbed his power and transfer it to Nate instead, causing both of them to be equally powerful.

"What the-" Heracles realized that his strength began to leave him and Nathan took this as a chance to run back to the water.

Heracles must have realized that the temporary loss of his power was caused by me. He's now targeting me. He swung his club at me, supposedly aiming my head, but now that he's in half of his power, his attack become slower and easier to dodge. I stepped inside with a thrust, but Heracles was waiting for that. He knocked my blade out of my hands and kicked me in the chest. I went airborne-twenty, maybe thirty feet. I would've broken my back if I hadn't crashed into the soft sand of a dune.

"Percy!" Annabeth and Grover yelled.

And before Heracles could deliver some killing blow, Nate immediately summon a wave of water to throw Heracles a few feet away from me.

"Percy, Nathan!" Annabeth said. "Cops!"

I was seeing double. My chest felt like it had just been hit with a battering ram, but I managed to get to my feet.

I couldn't look away from Heracles -who ran toward me- for fear he'd smashed me into flesh pulp, but out of the corner of my eye I saw red lights flashing on the shoreline boulevard. Car doors were slamming.

"There, officer!" somebody yelled. "See?"

A gruff cop voice: "Looks like that kid on TV ... what the heck ..."

"That guy's armed," another cop said. "Call for backup."

I rolled to one side as Heracles' club smashed the sand.

I ran for my sword, scooped it up, and launched a swipe at Heracles' face, only to find my blade deflected again.

Heracles seemed to know exactly what I was going to do the moment before I did it.

I stepped back toward the surf, forcing him to follow. What he didn't know is Nathan had been waiting on the surf. Ready to hurl the god down with waves of water.

"Admit it, kid," Heracles said. "You got no hope. I'm just toying with you."

More sirens.

A police voice on a megaphone said, "Drop the guns.' Set them on the ground. Now!"

Guns?

I looked at Heracles's weapon, and it seemed to be flickering; sometimes it looked like a shotgun, sometimes a club. I didn't know what the humans were seeing in my hands, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't make them like me.

Heracles turned to glare at our spectators, which gave me a moment to breathe. There were five police cars now, and a line of officers crouching behind them, pistols trained on us.

"This is a private matter!" Heracles bellowed. "Be gone."

He swept his hand, and a line of lightnings struck across the patrol cars. The police barely had time to dive for cover before their vehicles exploded. The crowd behind them scattered, screaming.

Heracles roared with laughter, his usual hero bravado is gone. "Now, little hero. Let's add you to the barbecue."

A six-foot wall of water suddenly smashed him full in the face, leaving him cursing and sputtering with a mouth full of seaweed. I landed behind him with a splash and feinted toward his head, as I'd done before. He turned in time to raise his club, but this time he was disoriented, he didn't anticipate the trick. Nathan stepped out from the water, lunged to the side, and stabbed Riptide straight down into the water, sending the point through the god's heel. To make it more painful, I also stabbed Redemption right to Heracles' other sides.

The roar that followed made Hades's earthquake look like a minor event. The very sea was blasted back from Heracles, leaving a wet circle of sand fifty feet wide.

Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, flowed from a gash in the hero god's boot. The expression on his face was beyond hatred. It was pain, shock, complete disbelief that he'd been wounded.

He limped toward us, muttering ancient Greek curses.

Something stopped him.

It was as if a cloud covered the sun, but worse. Light faded. Sound and color drained away. A cold, heavy presence passed over the beach, slowing time, dropping the temperature to freezing, and making me feel like life was hopeless, fighting was useless.

The darkness lifted.

Heracles looked stunned.

Police cars were burning behind us. The crowd of spectators had fled. Annabeth and Grover stood on the beach, in shock, watching the water flood back around Heracles' feet, his glowing golden ichor dissipating in the tide.

Heracles lowered his club.

"You have made an enemy, godlings," he said. "Both of you have sealed your fate. Every time either of you used your strength in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Nathaniel Dorian and Perseus Jackson. Beware."

His body began to glow.

"Nathan! Percy!" Annabeth shouted. "Don't watch!"

We turned away as Heracles revealed his true immortal form.

When the light died, we looked and saw Heracles was gone. The tide rolled out to reveal Hades bronze helm of darkness and Ares bronze shield. Nathan picked it up and walked toward me, helping me stand up.

But before we could check on our friends, we heard the flapping of leathery wings. The three furies drifted down from the sky and landed in front of both of us.

The middle Fury we came to known as Mrs. Dodds stepped forward. Her fangs were bared, but she looked more disappointed than threatening.

"We saw the whole thing," she hissed. "So… it truly was not you?"

Nathan tossed her the helmet, which she caught in surprise.

"Return that to Lord Hades," Nathan said. "Tell him the truth. Tell him to call off the war."

"And remind him of what he said about releasing Nathan's mom," I said. "It may of not of been returned the way he hoped, but we did return it after all."

She hesitated, then ran a forked tongue over her green, leathery lips. "Live well, Nathan Dorian. Percy Jackson. Become a true hero. Because if you do not, if you ever come into my clutches again ..."

She cackled as if savoring the idea. Then she and her sisters rose on their bats' wings, fluttered into the smoke-filled sky, and disappeared.

We joined Grover and Annabeth, who were staring at me in amazement.

"Percy... Nate..." Grover said. "That was so incredibly ..."

"Terrifying," said Annabeth.

"Cool!" Grover corrected.

I didn't feel terrified. I certainly didn't feel cool. I was tired and sore and completely drained of energy.

"Did you guys feel that... whatever it was?" Nathan asked, apparently he also sensed that dreadful aura as well.

We nodded uneasily.

"Must've been the Furies overhead," Grover said.

But I wasn't so sure. Something had stopped Heracles from killing me, and whatever could do that was a lot stronger than the Furies.

Nathan reclaimed his backpack and looked inside. The master bolt was still there.

I also picked up my backpack, which the content inside still fine, although my backpack is now wet and smelled like a burned plastic.

"I'm going to need a new backpack." I muttered.

"We will," Nate said. "But first, we have to get back to New York by tonight."

"That's impossible," Annabeth said, "unless we-"

"Fly," Nate agreed.

Annabeth stared at him."Fly, like, in an airplane, which you were warned never to do lest Zeus strike you out of the sky, and carrying a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?"

"Yeah," Nathan said. "Pretty much exactly like that."

"Besides, I doubt Zeus would strike us down while we have his symbol." I said. "Do you think we could find Ares in Olympus to return his shield?"

Annabeth nodded. "Heracles was right about Ares retired from war. He seems to be more peaceful the last time I saw him during Winter Solstice. He's usually could be found in his palace or if we're lucky, he will be the one to meet us."


	21. My Mom Bought Me Ice Cream

**Chapter 20: My Mom Bought Me Ice Cream**

It's funny how humans can wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality.

According to the L.A. news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. He accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake.

This crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. Heracles) was the same man who had abducted me and three other adolescents in New York and brought us across country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.

Poor little Nathan Dorian wasn't an international criminal after all. He'd caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from his captor (and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus-"Why didn't I remember him before?"). The crazy man had caused the explosion in the St. Louis Arch. After all, no kid could've done that. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified the police. Finally, brave Nathan Dorian and his friend, Percy Jackson had stolen guns from their captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. Police had arrived just in time. But in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed and the captor had fled. No fatalities had occurred. Nathan Dorian and his three friends were safely in police custody.

The reporters fed us this whole story. We just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted (which wasn't hard), and played victimized kids for the cameras.

The police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for four tickets on the next plane to New York even though we could actually use our LotusCash card to buy ourselves few tickets.

Right now, we're on a police car, on our way to the airport. A kind cop volunteered to drive us just in case if the crazy man/Heracles ever return to get us. Grover looked nervous, apparently because we have two godly symbols in our hand and probably fear that if anything happen to the Shield or the Bolt.

"Look Grover, we're going to make it to New York before this day over. Trust me." Nathan said, trying to reassured Grover, although he himself looked unsure himself.

"Nathan's right, Grover. You have done great in this quest. I'm sure the Council will give you the license you always dreamed of." Annabeth said.

"But, what happen if we couldn't make it to Olympus at all? What would happen with Percy and Nate?" Grover said.

"They will be fine, kids."

We turned to the police in front of us. He looked to us using the windshield. The police wore his usual blue cop uniform with red wraparound shades, an oily black crew cut, and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. And then I realized on where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. And the police oddly reminds me of Clarisse.

He stopped the car to looked at us. "You have done great, kids. Even though you are all still too young to ran across cities and to retrieve the most dangerous weapon of all."

Grover gasped. "Lord Ares!"

Nathan immediately pull out the Shield from his backpack. "Are you here for your shield?"

Ares nodded. "Yes. And I also wanted to meet the boy who became the talk of Olympus."

Nathan looked nervous. "Look, Lord Ares. I don't-"

"Not talking about you, cousin." Ares then turned to me. "I'm referring to the Son of Nemesis."

I blinked for a bit. "What?"

Ares gave me what I thought as his warmest smile. "Your adventure with that Son of Poseidon is quite entertaining. I wished I was there to see it, but from what I been told, you two had fought against my stupid half-brother, Heracles, and actually survived. Even Athena admitted that she liked you for every solution you came up with."

Annabeth turned to me and smiled. "See, Percy? My mother always value those who use wit instead of brawn."

"As I said before, I wanted to meet you and to offer you something." Ares said.

"What kind of offering?" I asked, slightly nervous. I mean, I don't really like having a god offers you something ever since we met Heracles.

"I want you to be my champion."

I went from slightly nervous to confuse while Annabeth and Grover looked shocked. Nathan looked awed.

"Your champion?" I asked.

"It basically means you will have my blessing, even some powers to help you in the future, in return you will come to my service when needed," Ares said. "But that part you won't have to worry about for quite a bit of time."

"Lord Ares, forgive me to say this, but you never picked a champion ever since the fall of Sparta, so why now?" Annabeth asked.

"True, but I picked Perseus here because he's the only demigod that ever respected me and my demigod children. And he also has a soul of a great warrior, something I have never seen for the last two thousand years."

"Forgive me, Lord Ares. But I never consider myself as a great warrior or anything at all..." I said.

"A great warrior never always about fighting, accomplishment, and power. Sometimes, those who stand up for truth also considered as a warrior." Ares explained.

I was stunned to respond. I remembered from my Latin class about Olympians picking certain demigods to be their champions, like Hera choosing Jason for example. Having one of the Olympians actually acknowledge me and even offering me to be their champion... I found it to be overwhelming.

"Um, Lord Ares. I'm honored and all, but-can I have time to decide?" I asked.

Ares smiled again. "Sure. I know that you are about to go to Olympus to return the Bolt, so I won't push it. If Zeus decided not to kill you, meet me at the Amphitheater at Camp to give me your decision."

"Thanks," I replied.

Ares started the car again and continued to drive until we reached the airport.

* * *

After Ares left us in the airport and taking his Shield with him as well, we manage to get on a plane and take off without a problem, although Nathan looked like he was living a nightmare the whole trip. Every spot of turbulence, he turned chalky white and clenched his hands on the armrest.

The local press was waiting for us outside security, but we managed to evade them thanks to Annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible Yankees cap, shouting, "They're over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!" then rejoined us at baggage claim.

Once safe, we split up at the taxi stand with Annabeth and Grover going back to Camp Half-Blood to inform Chiron what happened, while me and Nate going to Olympus to return the bolt. At first Nathan wanted to go alone, but I insisted that he should have some backup.

We hopped in our own taxi and headed to Manhattan. Within thirty minutes later, we walked inside the lobby of the Empire State Building.

We must have looked like two homeless kids, with our tattered clothes, scraped-up faces, and neither slept since our time in the Inhumane Animal Transport six days ago-which literally seemed like twenty-four hours to us since we spend five of those days in Lotus Casino where time had slowed down to make five days only seem like a few hours.

Nate went up to the guard at the front desk and said, "Six hundredth floor."

The guy was reading a huge book with a picture of a wizard in front that I recognized as one of the Harry Potter books. The guard looked up from his book and said. "No such floor, kiddos."

"We need an audience with Zeus," Nathan said.

He gave him a vacant smile. "Sorry?"

Nathan slipped off his backpack and unzipped the top.

The guard looked inside at the metal cylinder. At first he was confused, but then his face turned pale. "That isn't..."

"Yes, it is." Nathan confirmed. "You want me to take it out and-"

"No! No!" He scrambled out of his seat, fumbled around his desk for a key card, then handed it to me. "Insert this in the security slot. Make sure nobody else is in the elevator with you."

"Thank you for your service," I said as we headed to the elevators.

As soon as the elevator doors closed, I slipped the key into the slot. The card disappeared and a new button appeared on the console, a red one that said 600.

Nathan pressed it and we waited, and waited.

Muzak played "Raindrops keep falling on my head..."

Finally, _ding_. The doors slid open and we stepped out only to have a big surprise.

We were standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air. Below us was Manhattan, from the height of an airplane. In front of us, white marble steps wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky. From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, its summit covered with snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multi-leveled palaces-a city of mansions-all with white columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires. Roads wound crazily up to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow. Precariously perched gardens bloomed with olive trees and rosebushes. I could make out an open-air market filled with colorful tents, a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain, a hippodrome and a coliseum on the other. It was an Ancient Greek city, except it wasn't in ruins. It was new, and clean, and colorful, the way Athens must've looked twenty-five hundred years ago.

Our trip through Olympus was a daze. We passed some giggling wood nymphs who threw olives at us from their garden. Hawkers in the market offered to sell me ambrosia-on-a-stick, and a new shield, and a genuine glitter-weave replica of the Golden Fleece, as seen on Hephaestus TV. The nine muses were tuning their instruments for a concert in the park while a small crowd gathered satyrs and naiads and a bunch of good-looking teenagers who might've been minor gods and goddesses. Nobody seemed worried about an impending civil war. In fact, everybody seemed in a festive mood. Several of them turned to watch us pass, and whispered to themselves.

We climbed the main road, toward the big palace at the peak. It was a reverse copy of the palace in the Underworld.

There, everything had been black and bronze. Here, everything glittered white and silver.

"He must have design it to look almost identical since he is rarely welcome here," I said.

"Makes you feel bad for him, doesn't it?" Nate asked.

"Yeah, but not guilty since I was the only one who didn't point the finger at Hades," I said.

"Thanks for the reminder." Nathan muttered.

Steps led up to a central courtyard. Past that, the throne room.

Room really isn't the right word. The place made Grand Central Station look like a broom closet. Massive columns rose to a domed ceiling, which was gilded with moving constellations.

Twelve thrones, built for beings the size of Hades, were arranged in an inverted U, just like the cabins at Camp Half-Blood. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. The thrones were empty except for two at the end: the head throne on the right, and the one to its immediate left. Neither me nor Nathan had to be told which of the two gods sitting there in their giant form-just as Hades was- were which as we approach them.

Zeus, the Lord of the Gods, wore a dark blue pinstriped suit. He sat on a simple throne of solid platinum. He had a well-trimmed beard, marbled gray and black like a storm cloud. His face was proud and handsome and grim. I expect his eyes to be electric blue like his daughter: Thalia, but I guess Zeus' eyes depend on the weather because they were rainy gray instead.

The god sitting next to him was his brother, without a doubt, but he was dressed very differently. He reminded me of a beachcomber from Key West. He wore leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it. His skin was deeply tanned, his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman's. His hair was black, like Nathan's. His face had that same brooding look that had always gotten Nate branded a rebel only with sun crinkles on his face that told us he smiled a lot too.

His throne was a deep-sea fisherman's chair. It was the simple swiveling kind, with a black leather seat and a built-in holster for a fishing pole. Instead of a pole, the holster held a bronze trident, flickering with green light around the tips.

The gods weren't moving or speaking, but there was tension in the air, as if they'd just finished an argument.

Nate approached his father first while I approached Zeus and bowed.

"Father," Nathan said.

"Lord Zeus," I greeted.

Zeus spoke up, but mostly to Nathan. "Should you not address the master of the house first like your friend, boy?"

Nathan kept his head.

"Peace, brother," Poseidon finally said. "The boy defers to his father. This is only right."

"You still claim him then?" Zeus asked, menacingly. "You claim this child whom you sired against our sacred oath?"

"I have admitted my wrongdoing," Poseidon said. "Now I would hear him and his friend speak."

Oh, Nathan is not going to take that well.

"I have spared him once already," Zeus grumbled. "Daring to fly through my domain ... pah! I should have blasted him out of the sky for his impudence."

"And risk destroying your own master bolt?" Poseidon asked calmly. "Let us hear them out, brother."

Zeus grumbled some more. "I shall listen," he decided. "Then I shall make up my mind whether or not to cast this boy down from Olympus."

If my mom never swore an oath to destroy Olympus if something happens to me, maybe Zeus will also kill me as well.

"Nathan," Poseidon said. "Look at me."

Nathan did as he was told, as I did. I wasn't exactly good with reading expressions, but judging from Poseidon's, I guess that the Lord of the Sea was uncertain of how to feel about his son, which I guess Nathan felt the same about his own father.

"Address Lord Zeus, boys." Poseidon told us. "Tell him your story."

And so we did. Everything happened from the moment we left camp to after our battle with Heracles-Zeus frowned at this while Poseidon looked disgusted when we told them how Heracles wants to replace Zeus to be the new King of the Gods.

Nathan took out the metal cylinder, which began sparkling in it's owner presence, and laid it at the Sky God's feet.

There was a long silence, broken only by the crackle of the hearth fire.

Zeus opened his palm. The lightning bolt flew into it. As he closed his fist, the metallic points flared with electricity, until he was holding what looked more like the classic thunderbolt, a twenty-foot javelin of arcing, hissing energy that made both of our hair rise.

"I sense the boys tells the truth," Zeus muttered. "But Heracles would never do such thing... It is most unlike him."

"He is proud and impulsive," Poseidon said. "It runs in the family."

"Lords," Nathan said, "Heracles didn't act alone. Someone else-something else- came up with the idea."

We described our dreams, and the feeling we had on the beach, that momentary breath of evil that seemed to stop the world and made Heracles back off.

"In the dreams," Nathan said. "the voice told us to bring the bolt to the Underworld. Heracles hinted that he'd been having dreams, too. I think he was being used, just as I was, to start a war."

"You are accusing Hades, after all?" Zeus asked.

"No," I said. "I mean, Lord Zeus, We've been in the presence of Hades. This feeling on the beach was different. It was the same thing we felt when we got close to that pit. That was the entrance to Tartarus, wasn't it? Something powerful and evil is stirring down there ... something even older than the gods."

Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other. They had a quick, intense discussion in Ancient Greek. The only word we caught onto was _Father_.

Poseidon made some kind of suggestion, something about 'seeking help from the Seraphim' but Zeus cut him off. Poseidon tried to argue. Zeus held up his hand angrily.

"We will speak of this no more," Zeus said. "I must go personally to purify this thunderbolt in the waters of Lemnos, to remove the human taint from its metal."

He rose and looked at both of us. His expression softened just a fraction of a degree. "You two have done me a service, boys. Few heroes could have accomplished as much."

"We had help, sir," Nathan said. "Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase-"

"To show you my thanks, I shall spare your life. I do not trust you, Nathan Dorian. And you as well, Perseus Jackson. I do not like what your arrivals mean for the future of Olympus. But for the sake of peace in the family and Olympus alliance with your grandparents, I shall let you live."

"Um.. Thank you, sir," Nathan said.

"Do not presume to fly again. Do not let me find you here when I return. Otherwise you shall taste this bolt. And it shall be your last sensation."

For a moment, I thought I saw Zeus' eyes flickered to gold then back to blue, but I guess I must seeing a thing.

Thunder shook the palace. With a blinding flash of lightning, Zeus was gone, leaving us with Poseidon.

"I see where Mr. D gets his flair for dramatic exits from," I joked.

Poseidon tried to hide a smirk. "Zeus always had a flair for dramatic exits."

An uncomfortable silence.

"Perseus, if you wouldn't mind, I need to speak with Nathan, privately." Poseidon said.

"Of course, sir. Don't mind me, I'm just going to check around Olympus, see if they have an ice cream stand or something and I'm craving for some raspberry ice cream after the quest finished." I said. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Poseidon; and Nate, I'll meet you at the elevator." And with that I did a quick respectful bow to Poseidon.

"Okay. Buy me some blueberry ice cream if you find the ice cream stand!" Nathan said.

"I will!"

On my way, I could hear Poseidon said: "So that's Nemesis' son. He's _different_ from what I expect."

"You have no idea." Nate responded.

I just smiled at this as I left the throne room.

* * *

I found an ice cream stand near the Olympus' park and perhaps the most colorful ice cream stand I ever seen. And it's called Rainbow Sprinkles Iris Ice Cream. Since Iris is the Goddess of Rainbow, I wouldn't be surprise if her business had some random colors splashed on it. The stand was run by a nymph, who wore a rainbow colored uniform.

"Hello! How may I serve you?" the nymph said, a little too cheerful.

"One raspberry ice cream and one blueberry ice cream, please." I said.

"Do you have any drachmas to pay for it?"

"Um-" I reached into my pockets for a drachma only to remember that Nathan already gave my uncle all the drachmas.

"It's on me."

I turned to see a beautiful woman standing besides me. She has thick, dark, wavy hair falls down to her waist. Her eyes are black as coal. She has a very pale skin like she never stay under the sun for so long. Unlike other goddesses I saw on the market, she doesn't wore a traditional Greek toga, instead, she wore a casual modern clothes. Black skinny jeans and shirt, with a dark purple leather jacket and black knee-high boots.

If it wasn't for a whip that hanging on her belt and godly aura, I would probably mistake her as a really cool female mortal. And why she looked familiar?

The nymph looked startled at the woman for a moment. "Y-yes, my lady," the nymph said as she started preparing my ice cream and Nate's.

"Um, thank you." I said. The woman gave me a smile that strangely reminds me of my smile when I'm happy.

How do I know about my smile? Well, try to look into the mirror and smile. I tried once.

She nodded to me. "It's alright. It's actually the first time I buy you something, ever since the day you were born."

I was stunned for a moment when I hear the woman talked to me. Her voice. She sounded like the one I heard in my mind...

"Here you go," the nymph handed me my ice creams, but I was too shock to hear her.

"M-mom?" I responded.

When the woman looked to me directly, I could see most of her appearances resemble mine. The same black hair, same dark eyes, pale skin.

"Hello Percy," she greeted. "Finally we met face to face."

I could feel tears started to flow down from my eyes. When I couldn't hold my tears any longer, I quickly hugged my mother.

The nymph just stared at me, probably stunned because the goddess that bought me my ice cream is in fact my godly mother. My mother then hugged me back.

"Percy, you've grown." Nemesis said. She sounded like she was also crying as well. "Y-you looked just like your father." She ruffled my hair a little. "If- if only I could save him..."

Hades' words about my father never goes to Underworld suddenly struck me. "Mom, it's okay. I think dad would be really sad if you are sad as well."

Nemesis looked stunned for a moment. "That's exactly what your father said to me when I have to left him..."

And then I realized that my mother never wants to leave my father on the first place. She loved my father too much and it worried her if Olympus discover her relationship with my father. She doesn't want my dad to be placed in danger so she unwillingly left him. But it was already too late. Zeus already discovered my father and my existence. Which lead to the 'death' of my father.

"Mom, I've been wanting to meet you for years, you know," I said as I released myself from the hug. "I have a lot of questions and a lot of things I want to tell you."

"Calm down, Percy." Nemesis said. "I know that you have a lot of questions, but I couldn't stay here for a moment. I still have a lot of jobs to be done in a day. I'm sorry, Percy. I wish our meeting could last a little longer..."

I nodded in understanding, although slight disappointed. I suppose, revenge become the most important things for mortal these days. And my mom also had to keep the universe in balance as well. Considering her domains, I think my mom is the busiest minor goddess ever.

I took my ice cream cone and started to licking my ice cream. I think this ice cream was the best ice cream I ever tasted. I finished it quickly, but at the same time trying not to be messy. Unfortunately, I failed. My nose and my mouth were completely covered in ice cream. Nemesis, trying to stifle her laugh while wiping my face clean.

I feel like I'm five years old again when my mother cleaned up my face, but I don't care. It actually felt kinda nice.

"Thanks, mom," I said.

"I suppose I could stay a few minutes to answer you questions," Nemesis said.

I nodded. "First off, I want to know why you keep helping me when the Ancient Laws already stated that gods should not assist their children."

Nemesis snorted. "Those Olympians think that I could bow by their laws. Honestly, it was Hera who suggested that I shouldn't follow the laws. Something about the other Olympians already broken the rules several time anyway."

I heard Hera never liked demigods, so it was very surprising for me when I heard it was the Queen of Olympus who encourage my mother to help me.

"I also heard about a prophecy that regarding about me. What is it all about?" I asked.

Nemesis frowned. "My sisters deliver a prophecy about a son of mine will be more powerful than any gods that ever existed. Zeus, being paranoid fool as usual, ordered me to take the Vow of Maidenhood. I refused it at first. After the Olympians swallowed up their prides and began to pleading and begging for me, I accepted. Right after I laughed at their ridiculous acts to have me became a maiden of course."

I suddenly remembered that the Sisters of Fates are also my aunts. Which mean, I am related to very dangerous beings. No wonder the Olympians are afraid of me.

"Mom, there's something else... Lord Ares offered me to be his champion." I said.

"I'm aware," Nemesis said. "He already asked my permission to have you as his champion."

I nodded. "...to be honest, I don't know if I can do it. I mean, I'm honored that Ares offered me, but..."

"You're not sure if you can live up to the expectations he would have for you as his champion?" Nemesis asked.

I nodded.

Nemesis sighed. "Perseus Alastor Jackson, first off, you should know that Ares doesn't do what he does without a reason- unless if Zeus ordered him. He always picked a champion based on how strong their will and how loyal they are to their closest ones. For him to decide to approach you only shows that you already have what it takes to be the Champion of War."

"So, I should agree to his offer?" I asked.

"Not necessary. Unless if that's what you want."

I smiled. I'm happy that my mother is not really forcing when it comes to my decision.

"The conversation at the palace is coming to an end," Nemesis said.

"I guess that's my cue to go," I said as I picked up Nathan's ice cream-which already half melted.

"One last thing, you made me proud during your quest," Nemesis said.

I gave her one last hug as a thank as well as goodbye before leaving.

* * *

I met Nathan at the elevator. I gave him his half melted blueberry ice cream, which he more than happy to accept. Apparently as long as its blue, he would accept any kind of foods.

"You look happy. I take it that the ice cream stand was good?" Nathan asked as he examined his blueberry ice cream.

"Yeah, you could say that." I said. "So, how did your talk go?"

Nate shrugged as he told me the basic details, while licking his ice cream. He then told me the good news about his mother.

"So Hades kept his promise." I said.

"That's what I been told," Nathan said. He then looked to his half licked ice cream. "And this ice cream is good! What brand is this?"

"It's Rainbow Sprinkles Iris Ice Cream." I replied. "I think I saw one of the stand on the Empire State Building below."

"Maybe we should get more of this." Nathan said as he chewed the cone. "This ice cream tasted more delicious than any ice cream I ever tasted."

"I know right?"

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: When I searched on the Riordan wiki about what Nemesis looked like, I'm actually frightened and decided not to use the one Rick had described. Seriously, she looked like a biker chick on crack addict. *shudders* So I hope you guys like her new appearance that I wrote.**


	22. The True Lightning Thief

**Chapter 21: The True Lightning Thief**

Annabeth and Grover waited for us to return before we entered camp together. It only felt right since the four of us left together, the four of us should return together. Nathan looked much happier ever since he found out that his mom already made it back to their apartment safely. He told me that he's going to send his LotusCash card to fund her education so she could go to college and get the degree she always wanted.

Of course when the campers found out that we made it back alive, there was a huge celebration. After all, we were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke, and since I'm still staying in Cabin Eleven-my mom still doesn't have her own cabin, I kinda had brought honor back to Hermes Cabin.

According to camp traditions, we had to wear laurel wreaths to big feast prepared in our honor. I've decided to make an extra scrapping to the Lord of the Underworld. When I did, I swear I caught the scent of rotting corpses that faded before anyone else notice. Then, we were led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn our own burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence.

Annabeth's shroud was so beautiful-gray silk with embroidered owls. Nate made a comment that it seem a shame not to bury her in it, which she slapped him in the back of the head for it.

Since I'm the only son of Nemesis, entire minor demigods that stayed in Cabin Eleven-including the undetermined ones- worked on my shroud. It was dark silk with indigo colored set of scales and sword. The design of the sword symbol actually came from Cabin Five, who apparently already well informed about my success of finding their father's shield. I felt shame that I had to burn my shroud.

Nate was the only one all too happy to burn his. Being the only son of Poseidon, he didn't have any cabin mates, so the Ares cabin had volunteered to make his shroud, and needless to say they showed their anger toward him through the shroud. They'd taken an old bed sheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle.

The Apollo cabin led a sing along and passed s'mores. Everyone from Hermes and Athena Cabin as well as Grover's satyr buddies hanged around us. Although most Grover's buddies were admiring his brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest "Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past."

Clarisse and her cabin mates were all listening to me telling the story of how Nathan and I manage to defeat Heracles, which make them respected me more. They also began to respect Nathan as well. Apparently, Ares cabin loathed Heracles so much just like Athena cabin loathed the so called Hero of Olympus-more than to Poseidon.

Mr. D made a welcome-home speech which wasn't very welcoming. In fact, it was mostly an insult to Nathan. Mr. D didn't say anything about me though.

After everything, we headed to our respected cabins for the night. At first, I couldn't sleep immediately. I knew that tomorrow I would have to confront Ares about my decision. It was an hour after lights out that I went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up before everyone else, and headed out of the overcrowded Cabin Eleven. I walked toward the amphitheater. It was deserted at first, but as soon as I got closer I saw a familiar eight-year-old girl tending to the flames, who was having a casual conversation with some military-looking guy.

The guy wore a military standard US Marine Corps combat uniform, with M16 assault rifle slung on his back. I immediately recognized the guy as Ares, because he still wore his black shades to cover his nuclear-explosion eyes.

I don't know what I should do next. I couldn't decide whether to move forward or not. But the god must have sensed me because now he turned around from his companion and smiled at me.

"Perseus Jackson. Glad you can make it." Ares said.

"Uh-yes sir," I said.

The eight-year old girl smiled at me. "Don't worry, Perseus. My nephew will not hurt you." She then patted the spot between her and Ares. "Come, sit with us,"

I nodded and walked over and took my seat.

"I see that you met my aunt, Hestia already," Ares said. "She told me of how you can see her and greeted her."

I nodded, which received a smile from the Goddess of Hearth.

"So, have you considered my offer?" Ares asked.

"I have, and I have a question." I said.

"Ask away."

"I know you always do things for a reason, and you already answered this, but I must ask, why me?" I asked. "Why not Nathan? Or other demigod that's more powerful than me?"

Both gods smiled. "And that's why I asked you to be my champion, you're humble." Ares said. "Despite of the powers you inherited from your mother, you never rely on it too much. And since you already know about the prophecy that stated about you, I can help you and make sure the Olympus know that you will never betray us. Besides, my blessings could overlapped Heracles' curse on you."

I nodded, understanding. If I want Zeus to stop trying to kill me, I have to gain Olympus' trusts first. Being a champion for one of them seems to be the good start.

"Okay."

Ares raised an eyebrow. "You agree?"

"Yes." I said. "So, how do I become your champion?"

"All you have to do is swear your loyalty to Ares as his champion," Hestia said.

I sighed. "I, Perseus Alastor Jackson, Son of Nemesis, swear my loyalty to Ares: God of War. My loyalty as his champion."

Red aura burst into me and I felt stronger and powerful.

"I feel different." I said.

Ares nodded. "It's expected. Over time you will discover some of your new abilities that comes with your sworn loyalty. Until they do, I will give you these."

Ares summoned a celestial bronze shield and handed it to me. The shield have a carving dog's head in front of it and seems to be imbued with some sort of an enchantment as the shield was glowing red.

"You already have a good sword. It would be very fitting if you have good shield as well." Ares said.

"Cool." I said as I examined my new shield.

"I also want you to know if you ever need my advice, all you have to do is come up to my hearth," Hestia said.

I nodded. "Thank you, Lady Hestia. Thank you, Lord Ares."

They nodded and Ares teleported away, while Hestia walked into the fire on the hearth before disappearing.

* * *

A few weeks later since I became a champion of Ares -which only Nathan, Annabeth, Grover, and the entire campers from Cabin Five know that I accepted, although I had a strange feeling that Chiron knew about it.

I've got a letter from Uncle Gabe, telling me that he just got hired as the new day shift manager for a new restaurant. He wrote something about a guy in a red maroon suit came to him in the other day, offering him a job since one of his employee got a fatal accident. The new job also come with an available apartment as a bonus.

Nathan also got a letter from his mom, surprising both of us with the news that she was accepted into NYU to go for her degree in writing. Apparently the dean there got word about her goals as a writer and agreed to take her in.

On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by Cabin Nine. I heard from Annabeth that the fireworks were set up by Hephaestus kids to form animated frames in the sky fired off from Patriot missiles a barge offshore.

As Nathan, Annabeth and I were spreading out a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to tell us good-bye. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee had gotten thicker. He'd put on weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so he now had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human.

"I'm off," he said. "I just came to say... Well, you know."

Annabeth gave him a hug and told him to keep his fake feet on. I patted Grover in the back. Nathan asked him where he was going to search first.

"Kind of a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan..."

"We understand." I said.

"You got enough tin cans for the trip?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah."

"And you remember your reed pipes?"

"Jeez, Annabeth." he grumbled even though he wasn't annoyed. "You're like an old mama goat."

He gripped his walking stick and slung a backpack over his shoulder like a hitchhiker on an American highway. Nothing like the little runty boy me and Nate used to defend from bullies back at Yancy.

"Well," he said. "wish me luck."

He gave Annabeth another hug and clapped me and Nathan on the shoulder before heading back through the dunes.

Fireworks exploded to life overhead: Hercules killing the Nemean lion (we boo-ed at this), Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who turned out to be a son of Athena), crossing the Delaware.

"Hey, Grover!" We called.

He turned at the edge of the woods.

"Wherever you're going-" Nathan stated.

"I hope they make good enchiladas," I finished.

Grover grinned, and then he was gone, the trees closing around him.

"We'll see him again," Annabeth said.

"Yeah, as the first satyr to come back," I agreed.

Nathan nodded, but he looked uncertain.

* * *

July passed and I spend my days training to master my sword-fighting skill. When I wasn't training and trying to figure out my new powers, I spent my days devising new strategies for Capture the Flag and making alliances with the other cabins.

The last night of the summer session came all too quickly.

The campers had one last meal together. We burned part of our dinner for the gods. At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end-of-summer beads.

Nathan's and my first bead turned out to be pitch black, with two symbols. One was a sea green trident and the other one was a light indigo set of scales. Both symbols shimmering in the center.

"The choice was unanimous," Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea and the _very_ first Son of Revenge at this camp, and the quest they undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war! "

The entire camp got to their feet and cheered. Athena's and Hermes cabin steered me and Annabeth to the front so we could share in the applause. For once since I learned the truth about my mother and the existence of world of Greek myth, I felt like I was at home and I knew Nathan felt the same.

* * *

The next morning, I found a form letter on the floor beside my sleeping bag filled out by Dionysus:

 _Dear Peter Johnson,_

 _If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, you must inform the Big House by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume you have vacated your cabin or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin work at sundown. They will be authorized to eat any unregistered campers. All personal articles left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit._

 _Have a nice day!_

 _Mr. D (Dionysus)_

 _Camp Director, Olympian Council #12_

I just shook my head at the letter. Well, I guess I could ask my uncle about it once I return home.

After I put the letter into my backpack, I decided to do a bit of sword-fighting training. I was on my way to the training ground when I notice two campers talking. More accurate: Luke and Nathan. I immediately knew something was wrong when I noticed a scorpion coming at Nathan.

"You're as crazy as Heracles!" Nate shouted.

Luke's eyes flared. "Heracles is a fool. He never realized the true master he was serving. If I had time, Nathan, I could explain. But I'm afraid you won't live that long."

I had no clue what was going on, but I hid and listened.

"Good bye, Nathan. There is a new Golden Age coming. You won't be part of it."

Luke slashed his sword in an arc and disappeared in a ripple of darkness.

I'm still had no clue what was going on but I saw the scorpion jump at Nathan to attack. I quickly threw my sword at it and successfully hit the Scorpion and pinned it into the ground before it strike Nate.

Nathan looked to me.

"Nate? What on earth was that about?" I asked. "Where did Luke go?"

Nathan reluctantly told me what happened. I was surprised when he told me that Luke was working for Kronos.

"We got to tell Chiron!" I said.

"Tell me something I don't know." Nate said.

* * *

We found Chiron at Half-Blood Hill with Annabeth.

"Chiron!" We yelled.

"Nathan, Percy, what-" Chiron said.

"Luke was the thief," Nathan said. "He's working for Kronos."

"He tried to kill Nate with a pit scorpion," I responded.

Annabeth was in total shock as Chiron's eyes widened. "To the Big House! All of you!"

My mom is right about Luke. He's too dangerous and he already lied to all of us.

* * *

Once inside, Chiron had Nathan tell him everything that happened. Chiron had to take his human form due to his centaur form could barely fit inside. He seemed concern to what we said.

"I can't believe that Luke…" Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned angry and sad. "Yes. Yes, I _can_ believe it. He was never the same after is quest."

"This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron murmured. "I will go at once."

"Luke is out there right now," Nathan said. "I have to go after him."

Chiron shook his head. "No, Nathan. The gods-"

"Won't even _talk_ about Kronos." Nathan snapped. "Zeus declared the matter closed!"

"Calm down, Nathan. You can't go acting out on a futile revenge," I said. "You'll be just playing in Titan Lord's hands if you did that."

Nathan just stared at me. "But, aren't you the Son of Revenge? Wouldn't you agree with what I'm going to do?"

"True. But revenge without any precaution and preparation will only harm you in the end. And remember, my mom is not a straightforward goddess."

Nathan didn't looked like he like my statement, but he seems to understand now. "Chiron... Your prophecy from the Oracle... It was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? And Annabeth? And Percy?"

Chrion glanced nervously at the ceiling.

"Nate, it might be the best we don't know about it." I said.

"Still! I want to know!" Nathan said.

Chiron's eyes were sympathetic, but sad. "You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you…"

Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows.

"All right! Fine!" Chiron shouted before sighing in frustration. "The gods have their reasons, Nathan. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing. Until you're ready, you need to train. Percy is right. Kronos wants to clouded your thoughts with fear and anger to use to his advantage. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. You must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for the seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision."

Nathan wanted to argue, but he knew the discussion was over.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promise before turning to the window and saw something. He turned to Annabeth, "My dear, it seems they're here."

Chiron left the room and soon we could hear the sounds of a horse going down the porch and we guess that was Chiron.

"Who's here?" Nathan asked Annabeth, "What's going on?"

At first Annabeth was silent.

"Just tell him, Annabeth. He's going to find out later anyways." I said.

Annabeth sighed. "I...I took up your advice about mailing my dad."

"And?"

"I'm going home for the year, Nate." Annabeth stated.

"You mean to your dad's?" Nathan asked.

She nodded. We looked out the window up at Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's tree at the edge of the magical boundaries, a family stood silhouette—two little children, a woman, and a tall man with blonde hair, who was holding a backpack that looked like the one Annabeth gotten from Waterland in Denver.

"We decided to give it one more chance," Annabeth explained, "He even said he'll take me to Washington D.C. for Spring break if we make it that far."

"What about you?" Nathan asked me.

"I'm going back to the city," I said. "My uncle told me that he got a new job and also got a new apartment. I also decided to move out from Yancy. Getting sick and tired having to put up with Nancy Bobofit's behavior anyway."

"Great." Nate said. "Well, I don't want to be the only one who stays behind. So I guess I will go home too."

"Well, then let's agree to come back next summer," Annabeth said. "We'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, and if we don't, we sneak out anyway. Agreed?"

"Agreed," we said.

We shook on it and headed to our respected cabins to pack up and leave.

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: And that's a wrap! Thank you for reading this fanfic (which I'm still not sure why you guys even bother read this on the first place)**

 **News about the poll: So far, three people voted yes and two people voted no for the Son of Revenge prequel. I need more voter so I could be sure whether I should write the prequel or not.**

 **And to those who asked if I'm going to write the HoO version as well: Let's find out, shall we?**

 **Also, I actually posted this during my midterm exams and currently not starting on my Photography assignment yet lol.**


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